PRINCETON,    N.  J. 


Purchased   by  the 
Mrs.    Robert  Lenox   Kennedy  Church   History  Fund. 


BR  142  .T46  1896  v. 8       ! 
Locke,  Clinton,  1829-1904 
The  age  of  the  great  wester 
schism 


%tn  epocl)S  of  Cf)urrt)  fjifitorp 

CDiteD  b^ 
Tol  YIIL 


Z^rx  (Bpoc^e  of  C^xxvc^  ^ifitorg  .    S 


The  Age  of  the  Great 
western  schism 


BY 

CLINTON   LOCKE,  D.D, 


Z^t  C^xxstx(Xn  feiterature  Co. 

MDCCCXCVI 


Copyright,  1896,  by 
The  Christian  Literature  Co. 


PRINTED   BY 
J.  J.   LITTLE    AND    CO.,    NEW    YORK,   U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS. 


FAGB 

Preface ^^ 

CHAP.  I. The   Fourteenth   Century. — Quarrel  between 

Philip  and  Boniface.— The  First  Jubilee i 

CHAP.  II. Death  of  Boniface — Benedict  XI. — Charac- 
ter of  Benedict  XL  — Election  of  Clement  V.— Coronation  of 
Clement  V 7 

CHAP.  III.— The  Fall  of  the  Templars.— The  Arrest  of 
De  Molay. — Charges  against  the  Order. — The  Council  of 
Vienne.— Execution  of  De  Molay Ij 

CHAP.    IV. — Avignon. — Death    of    Clement. — Victory    over 

Philip. — Condition  of  City  of  Rome 25 

CHAP,  v.— John  XXII.— Character  of  John  XXII.— Quarrel 
of  John  with  Monks  and  Emperor.— The  "  Defensor  Pacis." 
—The  Antipope  Nicolas  V.— Death  of  John  XXII 30 

CHAP.  VI.— Benedict  XII.— Character  of  Benedict  XII.— 

Death  of  Benedict  XII 40 

CHAP.  VII.— Clement  VI.— Morals   of    Avignon. — Benedict 

and  Louis.— Effects  on  the  Papacy  of  the  Contest 44 

CHAP.  VIII.—RlENZi.— The  "  Good  Estate."— Strange  Con- 
duct of  Rienzi.— Rienzi's  Plight.— Death  of  Rienzi 49 

CHAP.  IX.— The  Black  Death— The  Flagellants— The 
Jews.— Symptoms  of  the  Black  Death.— Characteristics  of 
the  Flagellants.— Persecution  of  the  Jews 59 

CHAP.  X.— The  Jubilee  of  1350— Death  of  Clement- 
Innocent  VI.— Clement's  Defence  of  the  Friars. — Cardinal 
Albornoz  at  Rome.— Arrangement  of  Electors  for  the  Em- 

66 

pire 

V 


vi  Contents. 


PAGE 

CHAP.  XI. — Urban  V. — Gregory  XI. — Catherine  of  Si- 
ena.— The  Return  of  Urban  to  Rome. — Election  of  Greg- 
ory XI. — The  Stigmata  of  St.  Catherine. — Departure  of 
Gregory  for  Rome. — Death  of  Catherine  of  Siena 72 

CHAP.  XII. — Death  of  Gregory  XL — Election  of  Ur- 
ban VI. — Gregory's  Fear  and  his  Last  Commands, — The 
Archbishop  of  Bari. — The  Opening  of  the  Conclave. — The 
Election  of  Bari. — Coronation  of  Bari. — Character  of  Urban 
VI. — The  Secession  of  the  Cardinals. — The  Varying  Obedi- 
ences       82 

CHAP.  XIIL— Urban  VI.  and  Clement  VII ^The  Siege 

of  Nocera. — Public  Verdict  on  Urban  VI 99 

CHAP.  XIV.— Clement  VIL— Boniface  IX.— Election  of 
Boniface  IX. — Boniface  Begs  for  Money. — Success  of  the 
Jubilee  of  1390 104 

CHAP.  XV.— Benedict  XIIL— Innocent  VIL— France  Re- 
pudiates Benedict. — Embassy  to  Boniface. — Reign  of  Inno- 
cent VIL — Gregory  Sets  out  to  Meet  Benedict. — The  Uni- 
versity and  the  Pope's  Bull. — Views  of  Gerson. — Vain  At- 
tempts to  Hold  Councils Ill 

CHAP.  XVI. — The  Council  of  Pisa. — Basic  Principles  of 
Council  of  Pisa. — The  Sentence  of  the  Rival  Popes. — The 
Election  of  Alexander  V. — Three  Popes  now  over  the 
Church 127 

CHAP.  XVIL— Alexander  V.— The  Mendicant  Friars.— The 

Bull  "  Regnans  in  Ecclesia." — Death  of  Alexander 136 

CHAP.  XVIIL— John  XXIII. —Character  of  John  XXIIL— 
Ladislas  of  Naples. — Capture  of  Rome  by  Ladislas. — The 
Emperor  Sigismund. — Meeting  of  John  and  Sigismund. — 
Death  of  Ladislas 142 

CHAP.  XIX. — The  Council  of  Constance.— Opening  of 
the  Council. — General  Opposition  to  Huss. — Imprisonment 
of  Huss. — D'Ailly's  Views  on  Gregory  and  Benedict. — 
Sermon  of  D'Ailly. — Defence  of  Sigismund 1 55 

CHAP.  XX. — Council  of  Constance. — The  Accusation  of 
John. — John's  Formal  Promise  to  Abdicate. — Antagonism 
between  French  and  English. — The  Sermon  of  Gerson. — 
The  Session  of  March  26th. — The  Difficulty  over  the  De- 
cree.— Report  on  John's  Character 169 


Contents.  vii 


PAGB 

CHAP.  XXL— The  Trial  of  John  Huss.— Political  Errors 
of  John  Huss. — Sigismund  Renounces  Huss. — Final  Sen- 
tence of  Huss. — Execution  of  Jerome  of  Prague 185 

CHAP.  XXII. — The  Affairs  of  Gregory  and  Benedict, 
— Negotiations  with  Benedict. — The  Commission  of  Reform. 
— Sentence  of  Benedict 194 

CHAP.  XXIII. — The  Arrangements  for  the  Election — 
Martin  V. — Contests  of  the  French  and  English. — Diffi- 
culties over  the  Election. — Mode  of  Election  Arranged...   200 

CHAP.  XXIV.— The  Effects  of  the  Schism.— Low  Mor- 
als of  the  Clergy. — Exemptions  and  Other  Abuses. — Protests 
against  the  Church's  Worldliness 207 

CHAP.  XXV.— John  Wyclif.— Wyclif's  Theory  of  Dominion. 
— Wyclif's  Theory  of  the  Church. — The  "  Lollard  Conclu- 
sions."— Death  of  Wyclif 215 

CHAP.  XXVI. — Close  of  Council  of  Constance — Mar- 
tin V. — Coronation  of  Martin  V. — The  Concordats  with 
the  Nations. — The  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life. — The 
Councils  of  Constance  and  the  Vatican. — End  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Constance 224 

CHAP.  XXVII.— The  Return  of  Martin  V.  to  Rome, 
AND  HIS  Triumph. — Martin  V.  at  Florence. — Causes  of 
the  Ruin  of  Rome. — Failure  of  Council  of  Siena. — Chichele 
and  Cardinal  Beaufort 234 

CHAP.  XXVIIL— The  Hussite  War.— Horrors  of  the  Huss- 
ite War. — Disagreements  of  the  Hussites. — Victories  of 
Procopius 243 

CHAP.  XXIX. — EuGENius  IV.  and  the  Council  of  Basel. 
— Character  of  Eugenius. — Opening  of  the  Council  of  Basel. 
— Letter  of  Cesarini. — Small  Importance  of  the  Council 251 

CHAP.  XXX. — Continuation  of  the  Council  of  Basel. 
— Opposition  of  the  Pope  to  the  Council. — Discussion  of 
the  Bohemian  Question. — Appearance  of  Papal  Legates  in 
Basel. — Flight  of  Eugenius  from  Rome 260 

CHAP.  XXXI. — Continuation  of  the  Council, — Summary 
of  the  Work  of  the  Council. — Conflict  of  P,ipal  and  Conciliar 
Parties. — Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges. — Council  Deposes 
Eugenius. — Election  of  Amadeus  of  Savoy. — Present  Eflfect 
of  the  Reforming  Councils 268 


viii  Contents. 


PAGE 

CHAP.  XXXII. — The  Council  of  Ferrara  and  Flor- 
ence.— Contention  of  the  Greeks  for  Equality. — The  "  Fili- 
oque." — Discussion  of  the  Double  Procession. — Greeks 
Meet  with  Hostile  Reception 280 

CHAP.  XXXIIL— The  German  Mystics.— Character  of  Tau- 

ler.— The  "  Friends  of  God  " 289 

CHAP.  XXXIV. — The  Inquisition  in  the  Fourteenth 
Century. — Influence  on  Courts  of  the  Inquisition. — In- 
quisition in  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany 295 

CHAP.  XXXV. — Literature  and  Arts  in  the  Fourteenth 
Century. — Development  of  National  Literature. — Growth 
of  English  and  Spanish 301 


PREFACE. 


ENAN,  in  the  preface  to  one  of  his  books, 
says,  "  When  I  read  over  what  I  have 
written,  the  matter  appears  to  me  very 
poor,  and  I  perceive  that  I  have  put  in  a 
multitude  of  things  of  which  I  am  not 
certain."  Every  writer  of  history  must  feel  the  force 
of  those  words.  Personal  likes  and  dislikes,  race, 
language,  religion,  environment,  so  color  testimony 
that  the  absolute  certainty  of  even  the  smallest  item 
seems  doubtful.  In  this  account  of  the  great  schism, 
a  period  particularly  marked  by  fierce  passions  and 
violent  religious  hatreds,  the  writer  has  often  felt  en- 
tirely at  sea  amid  the  conflicting  witnesses. 

Of  course  in  working  over  material  as  often  used  as 
the  events  of  the  fourteenth  century  there  could  not 
be  much  originality ;  everything  has  been  said  and 
resaid  a  hundred  times;  but  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  give  a  coherent,  concise,  and  yet  interesting 
recital  of  a  period  full  of  stirring  events  and  rich  in 
glorious  promise. 

It  was  determined  not  to  have  any  notes.  These 
volumes  are,  as  the  prospectus  states,  "  popular  mono- 
graphs, giving  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  most  important 
events  in  the  life  of  the  church,"  and  in  that  light 


X  Preface. 

notes  are  more  confusing  than  helpful.  The  writer  is 
very  much  indebted  to  many  historians.  He  would 
mention  especially  Creighton,  Milman,  Robertson, 
Jahr,  Hecker,  Forsteman,  Gieseler,  Renan,  Von  der 
Hardt,  Dietrich  von  Niem,  Hefele,  Kurz,  Gregorovius, 
Gibbon,  Sargent,  Wratislaw,  Eneas,  Sylvius,  and  Hal- 
lam.  Sometimes  credit  is  given  in  the  text,  some- 
times not,  but  especial  thanks  are  due  for  the  aid 
afforded  by  Creighton's  "  History  of  the  Papacy  " 
and  Milman's  "  Latin  Christianity  "  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  volume.  The  writer  regrets  that  the 
publication  of  parts  of  the  immense  collection  of 
documents  in  the  Vatican  archives  relating  to  the 
Avignon  popes,  which  is  now  being  favored  by  the 
present  enlightened  pontiff,  was  not  available. 

The  preparation  of  this  volume  has  been  a  delight- 
ful task,  and  it  was  with  regret  that  the  closing  chap- 
ter was  written.  The  wonderful  vitality  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  its  supernatural  origin  can  be 
by  no  other  argument  more  forcibly  impressed  upon 
the  mind  than  by  the  fact  that  it  survived  the  degra- 
dations and  wickednesses  within  its  own  exponent, 
the  Christian  church  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

Clinton  Locke. 

Chicago,  August,  1896. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   FOURTEENTH   CENTURY. 

HE  fourteenth  century  of  the  Christian 
era  was  no  dull  and  stagnant  period  of 
the  world's  history.  It  glows  with  life 
and  power.  The  stage  is  filled  constantly 
with  men  and  scenes  which  stir  the  blood 
and  fix  the  attention.  Consequences  which  we  feel 
now  in  religious  and  in  political  life  had  their  causes 
then,  and  blows  struck  then  for  religious  and  social 
liberty  cut  so  deeply  that  in  this  very  hour  we  note 
their  effects.  There  were  dark  tragedies  and  amusing 
comedies.  There  were  splendid  gatherings  of  clerics 
and  of  nobles,  and  there  were  battles  where  the  cross 
of  the  merciful  Saviour,  Prince  of  Peace,  was  borne 
before  the  armies  of  either  side,  and  was  held  to 
sanction  causes  in  principle  and  practice  directly  op- 
posed to  the  genius  of  Christianity. 

In  a  book  of  this  size  many  minor  incidents  must 
be  omitted,  many  interesting  episodes  passed  over. 
The  political  history  will  be  considered  only  so  far  as 
it  is  interwoven  with  the  history  of  the  church,  and 
it  was  only  in  the  century  we  are  considering  that 
men  began  seriously  to  think  that  the  two  things 

I 


2      The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

could  be  at  all  separated  and  such  a  thing  exist  as  a 
church  and  state  untrammelled  by  each  other.  We 
have  to  consider  in  this  volume :  the  tremendous 
blow  that  the  papal  pretensions  received ;  the  prestige 
which  the  Papacy  lost  by  the  transference  of  the  seat 
of  its  power  to  Avignon  ;  the  vast  consequences  of  the 
great  Western  schism ;  the  noble  efforts  of  the  coun- 
cils of  Basel  and  Pisa  and  Constance  to  reform  the 
church ;  the  lives  of  Wyclif  and  of  Huss ;  and  with 
these  great  questions  others  of  less  importance,  such 
as  the  mysterious  episode  of  the  ruin  of  the  Tem- 
plars, the  terrors  of  the  Black  Death,  the  story  of  the 
Flagellants,  the  career  of  Rienzi,  and  the  victory  of 
national  languages  over  the  Latin  tongue. 

When  the  curtain  rises  on  the  fourteenth  century, 
the  stage  is  occupied  by  two  figures  which  dwarf  all 
the  rest,  the  Pope  of  Rome,  Boniface  VIII.,  and  the 
King  of  France,  Philip  IV.,  surnamed  "  the  Fair  "  on 
account  of  his  personal  beauty.  Boniface  had  suc- 
ceeded that  weak  pontifT  Celestine,  whom  Dante  with 
infinite  scorn  places  in  the  mouth  of  hell  among  the 

"  Melancholy  souls  of  those 
Who  lived  withouten  infamy  or  praise," 

and  stamps  him  forever  with  the  bitter  words : 

"  The  shade  of  him 
Who  made,  thro'  cowardice,  the  grand  refusal," 

referring  to  his  cowardly  resignation  of  the  papal 
throne. 

If  ever  one  man  was  a  contrast  to  another,  Boniface 
was  to  Celestine.    His  will  was  indomitable,  his  craft 


Quarrel  between  Philip  and  Boniface.     3 


unfathomable,  his  ambition  beyond  the  dreams  of 
even  his  most  ambitious  predecessors.  lie  was 
determined  to  push  the  domination  of  the  spiritual 
power  to  its  extremest  point,  and  for  a  while  it 
seemed  as  if  he  would  succeed ;  but  all  over  Europe 
men  were  beginning  to  think.  The  universities  were 
heaving  in  the  throes  of  discussions  on  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty,  and  a  body  of  great  lawyers  was  com- 
ing to  the  front,  who  could  oppose,  in  the  fashion  of 
the  day,  imperial  precedent  to  papal  pretension  with 
equal  learning  and  with  splendid  ability.  The  Pope's 
most  powerful  foe  was  the  King  of  France,  like  him- 
self strong-willed,  crafty,  ambitious,  resolved  to  put 
his  foot  on  the  neck  of  priestly  domination.  His 
was  not  a  noble,  unselfish  nature,  but  he  was  an  able 
man,  and,  like  many  another  of  as  coarse  a  grain,  he 
was  to  be  the  instrument,  under  God,  of  checking  the 
career  of  papal  supremacy,  which  was  at  that  time  a 
menace  to  the  liberty  of  every  subject  of  every  Euro- 
pean kingdom. 

It  is  not  within  the  limits  of  this  book  to  enter 
into  all  the  details  of  the  quarrel  over  supremacy 
between  the  Pope  and  the  kingdom  of  France,  the 
insulting  documents  which  hurtled  through  the  air 
between  Rome  and  Paris,  the  unfounded  charges 
against  Boniface's  private  character,  the  forged  mes- 
sages on  either  side,  and  the  ever-garbled  statements. 
A  reading  of  the  document  put  forth  in  1302  by  the 
Pope,  styled  "  Unam  Sanctam,"  and  which  is  of  un- 
disputed authority,  shows  to  what  height  papal  claims 
could  climb,  and  the  good  grounds  on  which  the 
French  king,  clergy,  and  people  rested  their  opposi- 


4      The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

tion.  In  this  "  constitution,"  as  it  is  called,  Boniface 
lays  down  in  the  strongest  terms  the  superiority  of 
the  spiritual  to  the  temporal  authority.  With  that 
false  exegesis  so  common  then,  so  utterly  repudiated 
now  by  the  most  superficial  scholars,  he  cites  St. 
Peter  in  the  garden  saying  to  our  Lord,  "  Behold, 
here  are  two  swords."  This,  he  says,  shows  clearly 
that  the  temporal  as  well  as  the  spiritual  sword  was 
in  St.  Peter's  hands,  and  our  Lord  confirms  that 
opinion  by  saying  not,  "  It  is  too  much,"  but,  "  It  is 
enough."  The  spiritual  sword  is  to  be  exercised  by 
the  church,  the  temporal  sword  by  laymen  under  the 
direction  of  the  church.  The  temporal  must  always 
be  subject  to  the  spiritual,  as  being  a  lower  power, 
God  Himself,  in  Jeremiah  i.  lo,  by  the  words,  "  See, 
I  have  this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations  and  over 
the  kingdoms,  to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to 
destroy,  and  to  throw  down,  to  build,  and  to  plant," 
clearly  shows  the  authority  He  meant  the  Pope  to 
have.  Kings  are  accountable  to  the  Pope,  but  he  is 
accountable  to  no  one  except  God.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  this  document  drove  the  whole  French  nation 
into  absolute  fury,  the  flame  of  which  Philip  dih- 
gently  fanned.  Then  followed  more  insulting  and 
defying  words,  and  at  last  the  Pope  not  only  excom- 
municated the  king,  but  forbade  any  election  to  any 
church  office  until  the  king  repented,  suspended  the 
universities  from  teaching,  and  gave  notice  that  he 
was  about  to  publish  a  bull  deposing  Phihp  and  re- 
leasing his  subjects  from  all  allegiance. 

Boniface  had  one  great  ally,  which  Philip  could 
not  match :  he  had  plenty  of  money  for  bribing  and 


The  First  Jubilee. 


the  gaining  of  support,  and  he  obtained  this  money 
at  the  jubilee  which  marked  the  opening  year  of  this 
century.  This  jubilee  merits  a  few  words.  During 
the  year  1299  one  of  those  curious  and  unaccounta- 
ble waves  of  feeling  swept  over  the  European  world, 
A  general  conviction  was  evident  that  great  indul- 
gences and  spiritual  privileges  were  to  be  obtained  at 
Rome  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  century,  and  from 
all  over  Europe  a  crowd  of  pilgrims  about  Christmas- 
tide  thronged  every  church  and  every  street  in  Rome. 
The  Pope  took  advantage  of  this  movement,  and, 
actuated  perhaps  by  sagacity,  perhaps  by  religious 
enthusiasm,  mounted  the  pulpit  in  the  Basilica  of  St. 
Peter  on  February  22,  A.D.  1300,  and  ordered  the 
immediate  promulgation  of  a  bull  which  granted  ex- 
traordinary indulgences  to  all  who  within  that  year 
should  with  penitence  and  devotion  visit  the  tombs 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  This  was  to  be  called  the 
jubilee,  and  it  was  to  be  celebrated  every  hundredth 
year. 

The  effect  of  this  bull  was  tremendous.  All  Eu- 
rope was  fired  with  religious  frenzy,  and  throughout 
Germany,  Italy,  and  even  England  the  roads  were 
crowded  with  pilgrims.  As  many  as  two  hundred 
thousand  strangers  were  in  Rome  at  one  time,  and 
so  admirable  was  the  management  that  every  one 
easily  found  good  lodgings  and  good  food  at  reason- 
able prices.  The  offerings  were  enormous.  Priests 
stood  raking  away  from  the  altars  the  gold  and  silver 
coins  thrown  down  before  them,  and  all  this  money 
was  for  the  Pope  alone.  He  had  the  sole  distribu- 
tion of  it,  and  who  can  doubt  that  he  used  much  of 


6     The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

it  to  advance  his  interests  in  his  quarrel  with  France 
and  England?  The  world  and  the  church  have 
greatly  changed  since  the  first  jubilee,  but  these  pil- 
grimages still  continue.  The  time  has  been  succes- 
sively shortened  to  fifty  years,  thirty-three  years,  and 
twenty-five  years.  It  stands  at  that  figure  now,  and 
the  last  ordinary  jubilee  was  held  in  the  year  1875. 
The  next  will  be  due  in  the  year  1900. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DEATH  OF   BONIFACE — BENEDICT   XI. 

]HE  insult  to  Philip  conveyed  by  the  papal 
bulls  was  too  deep  for  that  proud  king  to 
brook,  and  just  when  the  Pope  seemed 
most  triumphant  the  knell  of  his  doom 
had  struck. 

He  had  left  Rome  on  account  of  the  excessive  heat 
and  gone  to  his  native  place,  Anagni,  where  he  got 
ready  the  document  degrading  Philip  from  his  throne, 
and  he  intended  to  publish  it  in  the  cathedral  of 
Anagni  on  the  8th  of  September,  1303.  Of  course 
creatures  of  Philip  in  the  papal  court  kept  him  in- 
formed of  all  the  Pope's  movements,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 7th  an  armed  force,  commanded  by  William  de 
Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  and  in  the  pay  of 
France,  burst  into  the  papal  palace  with  cries  of, 
"Death  to  Boniface!"  "Long  live  the  King  of 
France!"  T]ie  Pope  robed  himself  in  the  papal 
vestments  of  ceremony,  put  the  crown  of  Constantine 
on  his  head,  and,  taking  his  seat  on  the  papal  throne, 
awaited  their  coming.  They  paused  a  moment  at  the 
sight  of  the  brave  old  man,  but  the  rude  Colonna 
dragged  him  from  his  throne,  and  with  buffets  and 

7 


8      The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

jeers  the  ribald  soldiery  paraded  the  venerable  pon- 
tiff through  the  streets  of  the  town  mounted  on  a 
horse  with  his  face  to  the  tail.  After  this  cruel  in- 
sult they  threw  him  into  prison,  but  on  the  second 
day  his  townspeople  rescued  him,  and,  escorted  by 
papal  troops,  he  got  back  to  Rome. 

He  was  at  that  time  eighty-one  years  old,  and  all 
this  suffering  told  deeply  on  his  enfeebled  frame,  so 
it  was  not  surprising  that  on  the  i  ith  of  October  he 
was  found  dead  in  his  room.  Of  course  his  death 
was  attributed  to  poison.  In  those  days  and  for 
centuries  after,  the  sudden  death  of  any  prominent 
person  was  always  supposed  to  come  from  poison, 
but  there  is  not  the  slightest  proof  of  it  in  this  case. 
He  certainly  had  undergone  enough  to  kill  him.  All 
Christendom  shuddered  when  it  heard  of  this  outrage 
on  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  Dante,  while  he  has  branded 
Boniface  with  his  bitterest  words  and  consigned  him 
to  a  very  low  place  in  the  other  world,  well  expresses 
the  general  feeling  in  those  lines  in  the  "  Purgatorio  " 
(xx.,  89) : 

"  I  see  the  flower-de-luce  Anagni  enter, 
And  Christ,  in  his  own  Vicar,  captive  made ; 
I  see  him  yet  another  time  derided ; 
I  see  renewed  the  vinegar  and  gall, 
And  between  living  thieves  I  see  him  slain." 

The  Sacred  College  consisted  at  that  time  of 
twenty  cardinals ;  but  two  of  them  were  of  the  Co- 
lonna  family  and  had  been  expressly  excommunicated 
by  the  late  Pope,  therefore  they  could  not  vote.  The 
other  eighteen  assembled  immediately,  and  eleven 
days  after  Boniface's  death  unanimously  raised  Nico- 


Character  of  Benedict  XL 


las,  Bishop  of  Ostia,  to  the  papal  throne.  He  took 
the  name  of  Benedict,  and  was  the  eleventh  Pope  of 
that  name.  The  choice  seemed  a  very  wise  one. 
Benedict  had  been  a  loyal  and  steadfast  friend  of 
Boniface,  and  was  a  man  of  calm,  wise  character, 
very  anxious  to  do  all  he  could  to  make  peace.  This 
was  shown  by  his  immediate  despatch  of  officers  to 
France  to  remove  the  excommunication  from  king, 
clergy,  and  people.  He  restored  to  the  French 
cathedral  chapters  their  right  of  election  and  to  the 
universities  their  privileges,  and  granted  the  tithe  of 
all  the  French  benefices  to  Philip  for  two  years.  He 
did  more ;  he  pardoned  the  Colonnas  and  restored 
the  two  Colonna  cardinals  to  their  dignity.  In  fact, 
he  pardoned  nearly  every  one  except  William  de 
Nogaret,  and  a  few  others  who  had  been  personally 
engaged  in  the  outrage  at  Anagni.  Surely  he  would 
have  been  wanting  in  the  first  principles  of  manhood 
if  he  had  pardoned  those  ruffians. 

If  Philip  of  France  had  been  in  any  way  reason- 
able, all  the  disasters  which  darkened  down  upon  the 
church  during  this  just  opening  century  might  have 
been  avoided ;  but  Philip,  as  far  as  the  dead  Boniface 
was  concerned,  had  the  ferocity  of  a  tiger,  and  noth- 
ing would  appease  him  but  the  calling  of  a  council 
which  should  brand  the  dead  pontiff  with  heresy, 
simony,  impurity,  and  all  imaginable  crimes.  Bene- 
dict was  too  true,  too  brave,  too  honest,  to  consent 
to  any  such  thing.  How  could  he  lend  himself  to 
such  a  degradation  of  the  Papacy  as  would  be  pre- 
sented by  the  spectacle  of  a  general  council  sitting  in 
judgment  on  a  Pope  already  dead?     He  had  tried 


lo   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

conciliation ;  it  had  produced  no  effect,  and  he  now 
resolved  to  change  his  tactics.  He  left  Rome,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  heat,  but  because  he  had  no 
liberty  of  action  there,  for  the  city  was  filled  with 
jarring  factions,  and  a  liberal  supply  of  French  gold 
was  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 
He  retired  to  Perugia,  and  there,  on  the  7th  of  June, 
1 304,  he  issued  a  bull  denouncing  William  de  Nogaret 
and  fourteen  others,  excommunicating  them  all  and 
citing  them  to  appear  before  him  on  the  feast  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul,  June  29th.  On  the  27th  of  June 
the  Pope,  after  a  short  illness,  died  of  dysentery, 
brought  on  by  overindulgence  in  ripe  figs,  of  which 
he  was  very  fond.  Of  course  poison,  as  usual,  was  sus- 
pected, but  there  is  not  a  shred  of  evidence  to  justify 
the  suspicion. 

The  cardinals  hurried  together,  and  now  there 
commenced  in  Perugia  a  conclave  noted  for  its  squab- 
bles, its  factions,  and  its  delays.  It  is  said  that  nearly 
a  year  had  passed  when  the  people  of  Perugia,  wea- 
ried out  by  the  unending  strife,  threatened  to  deprive 
the  august  body  of  all  provisions,  and  even  to  loot 
their  palaces.  There  were  two  factions  in  the  con- 
clave, the  French  and  the  Italian,  and  neither  could 
elect  without  some  help  from  the  other.  The  French 
faction  was  headed  by  Napoleon  Orsini  and  the  Car- 
dinal of  Prato,  as  wily  and  astute  a  man  as  ever  lived, 
and  (though  the  other  cardinals  were  not  aware  of  it) 
the  confidential  agent  of  King  Philip.  The  leaders 
of  the  Italian  faction  were  Matthew  Orsini  and  Francis 
Gaetani,  nephew  of  Pope  Boniface.     Both  factions 


Electio7i  of  Cle7ncjit   V.  1 1 

felt  that  something  must  be  done  ;  very  shame  forced 
them  to  a  decision. 

The  French  faction,  through  the  Cardinal  of  Prato, 
proposed  that  the  Italian  party  should  nominate  three 
candidates,  not  cardinals  (for  at  that  time  the  election 
was  not  restricted  to  the  members  of  the  Sacred 
College) ;  these  candidates  must  be  prelates  living  be- 
yond the  Alps,  and  Prato  pledged  his  side  to  agree 
on  one  of  the  three.  He  was  playing  a  deep  game, 
but  its  success  proved  his  keen  sagacity.  The  three 
were  nominated,  and  the  choice  of  the  Sacred  College 
fell  upon  one  of  them,  Bertrand  de  Got,  Archbishop 
of  Bordeaux,  Momentous  choice  it  was,  and  full  of 
momentous  consequences. 

If  ever  a  side  considered  itself  a  winner  it  was  the 
Italian  party  in  the  Perugia  conclave  when  they  had 
secured  the  election  of  Bertrand  de  Got.  He  was, 
though  a  Frenchman,  a  subject  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, who  then  ruled  over  Bordeaux  and  much  else 
of  France.  He  had  been  involved  in  a  well-known 
quarrel  with  King  Philip's  brother,  and  was  therefore 
not  thought  to  \>^ persona  grata  to  the  king.  He  had 
been  a  firm  friend  of  Boniface  in  the  French  quarrel, 
and  he  owed  his  high  ecclesiastical  position  entirely 
to  the  favor  of  Boniface.  If  any  man  seemed  likely 
to  stand  by  the  memory  of  the  accused  Pope  he  did, 
but  the  Cardinal  of  Prato  knew  his  man  better  than 
his  colleagues.  It  had  been  arranged  in  the  con- 
clave, probably  by  Prato  to  gain  time,  that  forty 
days  should  elapse  between  the  nomination  and  the 
election  of  a  new  Pope.     As  soon  as  Bertrand  had 


12    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

been  nominated  Cardinal  Prato  hurried  off  a  secret 
messenger  to  King  Philip,  urging  him  to  see  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Bordeaux,  flatter  him,  promise  him  his  full 
support,  and  make  his  own  terms  with  him.  The 
king  lost  no  time  in  doing  so. 

It  has  often  been  stated  that  the  two  met  in  secret 
in  the  forest  of  St.  Jean  d'Angely,  but  from  docu- 
ments lately  discovered  a  personal  interview  seems 
improbable.  The  negotiations  were  doubtless  car- 
ried on  by  go-betweens.  We  know  all  about  them, 
however,  for  the  king  did  not  conceal  from  his  inti- 
mate friends  the  conditions  he  had  made  with  Ber- 
trand  in  exchange  for  the  promise  of  his  favor  and 
support.  These  conditions  were  six  in  number:  i. 
The  excommunication  of  the  king  was  to  be  with- 
drawn (this  Benedict  had  offered)  and  he  was  to  be 
pronounced  without  blame.  2.  All  his  agents  in  the 
struggle  with  the  Pope  were  to  be  absolved.  3.  He 
was  to  have  for  five  years  a  tenth  of  all  clerical  in- 
comes. 4.  The  memory  of  Boniface  was  to  be  con- 
demned. 5.  The  Colonna  cardinals  were  to  be  cleared 
of  all  ecclesiastical  disability.  The  sixth  condition 
was  kept  secret,  and  unending  have  been  the  conjec- 
tures as  to  its  import.  No  one  knows  for  certain,  but 
the  general  opinion  is  that  it  was  the  condemnation 
of  the  Templars. 

Philip  sent  word  immediately  to  the  Cardinal  of 
Prato  that  everything  was  all  arranged,  and  the  car- 
dinal forthwith  notified  his  brethren  that  his  side  was 
ready  to  proceed  to  the  election  without  delay.  Ber- 
trand,  in  whom  both  parties  saw  their  man,  was  unani- 
mously elected,  and  took  the  name  of  Clement  V. 


Coronation  of  Clement   V.  13 

Ofcourse.ashewasnotpresent.muchoftheceremonial 
had  to  be  omitted.    The  Itahans  in  the  conclave  were 
soon  awakened  from  their  dream  of  trust  m  the  new 
Pope  by  receiving  a  summons  from  him  to  come  to 
Lyons  for  his  coronation.     They  had  not  imagmed 
that  any  other  place  than  Rome  could  be  the  papal 
residence,  but  many  a  long  year  would  pass  before 
the  realization  of  any  such  hope,  for  now  was  to  com- 
mence the  "  Babylonish  captivity,"  as  Roman  Cath- 
olic historians  designate  the  residence  of  the  popes  m 
Avignon,  calling  it  that  because  it  lasted,  like  the  cap- 
tivity of  the  Jews,  just  seventy  years.     Protestan 
historians  often  apply  the  word  "  Babylon     to  papa 
Rome,  which  proves  it  to  be  a  convenient  word  o 
cursing,  the  use  of  which  depends  on  your  point  of 

view.  , 

The  coronation  of  the  Pope  was  not  a  very  happy 
affair   for  a  wall  crowded  with  spectators  fell  just  as 
Clement,  mounted  on  horseback,  was  passing  in  pro- 
cession     The  Duke  of   Brittany,  who  was  leading 
the  papal  horse,  was  killed,  the  Pope  knocked  off 
his  steed,  his  tiara  sent  rolling  in  the  mire,  and  the 
king's  brother  very  badly  hurt.     As  soon  as  possible 
after  his  coronation  Clement  began  to  carry  out  his 
agreement.     He  absolved  the  king  and  declared  him 
free  from  all  blame.     He  gave  him  the  tenths.     He 
restored  the  Colonna  cardinals  and  created  ten  new 
cardinals,  all  French,  and  then  he  paused,  for  he  cou  d 
not.  servile  tool  though  he  might  be,  bring  himself  to 
pronounce  pardon  on  all  those  who  had  so  abused 
Pope  Boniface,  nor  could  he  condemn  Boniface  as  a 
heretic  and  a  villain,  for,  if  he  did,  it  would  seem  to 


14    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

invalidate  his  own  election  by  cardinals  whom  Boni- 
face had  created.  No  wonder  he  shirked  these  ques- 
tions, but  he  was  in  the  hands  of  a  deadly  hater. 
Philip  was  determined  not  to  let  go  until  Boniface 
had  been  pronounced  by  the  Pope  a  heretic,  and  his 
body  dug  up  and  burned.  Clement  did  at  last  ab- 
solve Nogaret  and  his  companions  on  condition  of 
their  performing  certain  penances,  and  he  managed 
to  stave  off  the  affair  of  Boniface  to  a  general  council 
which  he  announced  he  would  soon  call  at  Vienne. 
He  hoped  the  king  would  die,  or  something  turn  up 
that  would  let  him  out  of  the  net  in  which  he  strug- 
gled. His  hopes  were  realized ;  something  did  turn 
up.  It  was  the  famous  affair  of  the  Templars,  which 
was  now  absorbing  PhiHp,  the  Pope,  and  every  one 
else. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    FALL    OF   THE   TEMPLARS. 

HE  military  order  of  the  Temple  was  the 
noblest,  the  most  famous,  the  bravest  in 
the  world.  For  nearly  two  hundred  years 
had  the  Templars  been  the  bulwark  of 
the  Christian  power  in  Piilestine,  and  now 
that  all  hope  of  any  further  Christian  rule  was  over, 
and  their  last  battle  fought,  the  remnant  came  back 
to  join  their  brethren  in  France,  where  the  order 
was  the  most  numerous  and  its  installation  the  most 
splendid.  The  Grand  Master  was  James  de  Molay, 
and  with  a  long  and  magnificent  train  of  knights  and 
serving-men,  twelve  horses  loaded  with  gold  ducats, 
and  sumpter-mules  by  scores  bearing  silver  and 
tapestries  and  precious  Eastern  treasures,  he  landed 
from  Cyprus  and  travelled  through  France  to  Paris, 
where,  in  the  Temple,  so  well  known  in  modern  times 
as  the  prison  of  Louis  XVI.,  was  the  chief  seat  and 
treasure-house  of  the  order.  King  Philip  marked  the 
splendid  home-coming  and  resolved  on  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  whole  body. 

A  great  deal  of  mystery  has  been  thrown  around 
his  action  by  historians,  but  the  motives  which  ac- 

15 


1 6    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

tuated  him  are  evident  enough.  In  the  first  place, 
PhiHp  was  one  of  the  most  avaricious  men  known  in 
history,  and  was  always  in  pecuniary  difficulty.  He 
knew  that  the  Templar  body  was  the  richest  corpora- 
tion in  the  world  and  would  prove  a  splendid  booty. 
He  owed  them  immense  sums,  and  no  man  loves  his 
creditors.  But  there  was  a  far  deeper  reason  than 
this.  Philip  was  an  able  and  far-seeing  king,  and  he 
was  confronted  with  the  spectacle  of  a  body  of  eight 
thousand  knights  and  a  vast  host  of  servitors  and 
clergy  camped  right  in  the  centre  of  his  kingdom, 
armed  better  than  any  of  his  soldiers,  more  thoroughly 
trained,  and  under  the  absolute  command  of  one  man, 
who  might  at  any  time  take  a  notion  to  make  him- 
self king,  and  in  that  case  had  power  to  summon  to 
his  aid  not  only  the  French  knights,  but  eight  thou- 
sand more  scattered  over  Europe.  Such  a  course, 
especially  if  the  religious  difficulties  were  kept  up, 
would  be  sure  of  papal  support,  for  the  order  of  the 
Temple  had  always  been  devoted  papalists. 

Philip  doubtless  reasoned  that  he  would  be  able  to 
offer  very  little  resistance  to  such  a  force,  and  so,  for 
reasons  of  state,  the  king  determined  to  down  this 
gigantic  spectre  which  threatened  his  very  life.  He 
knew  that  he  would  not  be  without  sympathy,  for 
the  Templars  were  cordially  hated.  The  French 
clergy  hated  them  because  they  had  so  many  privi- 
leges ;  for  example,  whenever  an  interdict  spread  its 
ghastly  pall  over  a  land,  and  the  parish  churches 
were  all  shut,  and  only  with  maimed  rite  were  chil- 
dren secretly  baptized  and  the  dead  buried,  by  papal 
decree  the  churches  of  the  Templars  were  exempted. 


The  A  rrest  of  De  Malay.  1 7 


There  the  lights  blazed,  the  censer  swung,  the  mass 
was  chanted,  and  all  the  rites  of  the  church  were 
openly  performed.  The  nobles  hated  them  for  their 
haughtiness  and  cxclusiveness  and  because  they  had 
come  by  inheritance  into  possession  of  so  many  of 
their  family  estates,  and  the  people  hated  them  be- 
cause they  were  proud  and  rich,  luxurious  and  over- 
bearing. 

Rumors  of  grave  scandals  existing  in  their  order 
had  been  floating  about  Europe  for  many  years,  but 
the  Templars  had  always  disdained  to  notice  such 
reports.  Their  power  and  their  wealth  made  them 
feel  thoroughly  secure,  but  it  proved  a  false  security. 
The  king  laid  all  his  plans  with  the  secrecy  of  the 
grave.  On  October  12,  1307,  the  Grand  Master,  De 
Molay,  was  one  of  the  pall-bearers  at  the  funeral  of 
the  king's  sister,  and  was  treated  by  the  king  with 
distinguished  courtesy.  He  woke  at  dawn  of  day  to 
find  the  armed  soldiers  of  the  king  by  his  bedside, 
and  before  the  night  of  the  13th  had  come  every- 
where in  France  the  highest  and  the  noblest  of  the 
knights  were  dragged  to  prison,  over  nine  hundred 
in  Paris  alone.  The  news  flew  like  lightning  over 
Christendom,  and  men  asked  everywhere  in  amaze- 
ment, "  What  are  the  charges  and  who  made  them  ?  " 

The  originators  of  the  charges  seem  to  have  been 
two  apostate  Templars,  Squin  of  Beziers  and  a  Flor- 
entine named  Naffo,  both  men  of  bad  reputation  and 
who  made  each  other's  acquaintance  in  prison.  From 
such  wretched  creatures  Philip  listened  to  the  follow- 
ing accusations :  I.  That  the  candidates  for  Templar 
knighthood  were  compelled  to  deny  Christ  and  spit 


1 8    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

on  the  cross.  2.  That  they  worshipped  an  idol.  3. 
That  they  were  allowed  to  practise  sodomy  and  com- 
mitted other  indecencies.  4.  That  parts  of  the  mass 
were  omitted  in  Templar  churches.  5.  That  the  Grand 
Master  and  other  chief  officers,  though  laymen,  gave 
absolution.  6.  That  they  often  had  betrayed  the 
Christian  cause  in  Palestine.  The  truth  or  falsity  of 
these  charges  has  been  one  of  the  "  vexed  questions  " 
over  which  whole  volumes  have  been  written,  and 
even  now,  with  the  keen  light  of  nineteenth-century 
researches  thrown  upon  it,  it  is  difficult  to  come 
to  a  perfectly  fair  conclusion. 

Of  course,  if  the  charges  had  never  been  sustained 
the  case  would  have  begun  and  ended  with  the  first 
informers,  but  the  difficulty  lies  in  the  number  of 
admissions  made  by  many  of  the  knights  in  their 
examinations  before  courts  and  councils.  Yet  when 
we  look  into  these  admissions  we  find  that  they  were 
wrung  from  tortured  men,  worn  out  by  harsh  treat- 
ment in  loathsome  prisons,  men  used  to  luxury  and 
unable  to  bear  physical  torture,  while  brave  as  lions 
on  the  battle-field.  Courage  and  endurance  of  physi- 
cal pain  are  two  entirely  difi"erent  things,  and  there 
are  but  few  natures  which  can  long  withstand  horrible 
torture.  Most  men  will  confess  almost  anything  to 
have  the  torture  stopped.  Against  the  admissions 
must  be  offset  the  conduct  of  hundreds  of  knights 
who,  under  the  severest  torture  and  amid  the  flames 
of  the  stake,  would  not  acknowledge  one  atom  of  the 
crimes  charged.  Indeed,  of  those  who  confessed, 
the  vast  majority  retracted  everything  the  moment 
the  pressure  was  removed.    For  example,  it  was  said 


Charges  against  the  Order.  19 


that  the  Grand  Master,  De  Molay,  confessed  that 
every  accusation  was  true  to  a  commission  of  cardi- 
nals sent  by  the  Pope  to  Chinon,  and  yet  when  this 
confession  was  read  over  to  him  in  Paris  he  started 
with  horror  and  declared  that  it  was  all  a  forgery  and 
a  lie,  that  he  had  never  said  such  words.  The  aged 
and  high-born  chief  lifted  his  arms  and  fervently  re- 
cited the  Apostles'  Creed  to  show  his  perfect  ortho- 
doxy. 

Some  of  the  charges  can  be  explained.     The  de- 
nial of  Christ  and  the  spitting  on  or  near  the  cross 
were  probably  meant  as  a  trial  of  faith.     The  candi- 
date was  asked  to  do  this,  and  if  he  complied  he  was 
shown  the  lesson  of  constancy  and  faith,  and  adjured 
never  to  yield  to  such  a  temptation.     No  idol  (the 
idol's    name   was   said   to    be   Baphomet)  was    ever 
found,  though  all  the  commanderies  were  searched 
thoroughly  and  suddenly  before  the  inmates  had  time 
to  secrete  anything.    As  to  impurity,  there  was  doubt- 
less much  of  it.      It  was  likely  to  exist  more  or  less  in 
communities  of  high-living,  drinking  soldiers,  but  there 
was  not  the  slightest  proof  that  it  was  a  common  or  ac- 
knowledged thing.  Theomissionof  part  of  the  canon  of 
the  mass  rests  on  the  vaguest  and  most  unreliable  testi- 
mony.    The  absolution  by  the  Grand  Master  seems 
merely  to  have  been  the  remission  of  certain  penal- 
ties for  violation  of  discipline,  which  was  perfectly 
within  his  power  as  a  layman  ;  and  the  secret  treaties 
with  the  Saracens  can  be  explained  by  those  courte- 
sies of  war  which  had  grown  up  from  the  long  in- 
tercourse of  Turkish  and  Christian  warriors  in  Pal- 
estine. 


20   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Every  secret  society  rising  to  prominence  lias  al- 
ways been  the  subject  of  much  gossip  and  slander. 
The  Masonic  body  in  America,  in  the  early  part  of 
this  century,  came  very  near  being  as  ruined  as  the 
Templar  order,  from  the  rumors  and  accusations 
against  it,  which  its  members  in  vain  denied. 

Whether  the  Templars  were  guilty  or  not  did  not 
much  influence  Philip.  He  was  determined  to  have 
their  blood  and  their  money,  and  the  Pope  was  too 
much  in  his  power  and  too  servilely  his  henchman 
not  to  aid  him  in  every  way.  On  May  12,  1308, 
fifty-four  Templar  knights  were  burned  alive  in  Paris, 
every  one  of  them  protesting  until  the  smoke  suflfo- 
cated  him  that  the  order  of  the  Temple  was  entirely 
innocent  of  the  charges  brought  against  it.  Hun- 
dreds of  others  were  burned  all  over  France,  but 
there  is  no  true  evidence  that  one  recanted  at  the 
stake,  and  it  seems  scarcely  credible  that  all  these 
high-born  men,  noted  for  their  honor,  were  liars  and 
deceivers. 

The  Pope  had  put  off  for  some  time  the  Council 
of  Vienne,  but  he  and  Philip  came  to  a  secret  under- 
standing about  Boniface  and  the  Templars,  and  he 
was  no  longer  afraid  to  call  it.  He  summoned  it, 
therefore,  for  October  16,  131 1,  and  it  was  attended 
by  nearly  two  hundred  bishops  and  abbots.  Philip 
had  secretly  agreed  that,  if  the  Pope  would  allow  him 
to  carry  out  his  designs  on  the  Templars  and  sweep 
them  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  he  would  abate  his 
demands  about  Boniface's  memory,  and  would  say 
nothing  more  about  any  heresy  or  his  wish  to  have 
the  body  dug  up  and  burned.     So  on  April  4,  131 1, 


The  Council  of  Vienne.  21 

a  bull  was  issued  which  annulled  Boniface's  acts 
against  the  king  and  kingdom  of  France  and  ordered 
them  to  be  torn  out  of  the  papal  registers,  but  noth- 
ing was  said  about  heresy  or  evil  living  on  the  part 
of  the  Pope.  Philip  was  pronounced  as  innocent  as  a 
lamb  of  all  personal  hatred  of  Boniface,  and  to  have 
been  merely  actuated  by  great  zeal  for  the  church. 

So  this  great  matter  of  Boniface,  which  had  con- 
vulsed the  Christian  world  for  so  many  years,  was 
settled,  and  in  the  Council  of  Vienne  but  little  was 
said  about  it;  both  sides  dropped  it.  Clement  la- 
bored hard  to  get  the  order  of  the  Temple  con- 
demned, when  nine  Templars  suddenly  appeared 
before  the  council,  prepared  to  defend  the  order 
and  demanding  to  be  heard ;  and  the  whole  assem- 
bly, except  three  French  prelates  who  had  been  con- 
cerned in  the  burning  of  some  Templars,  declared 
that  they  ought  to  be  heard.  The  Pope  adjourned 
the  council,  and  for  many  months  argued  and  strove 
with  the  bishops ;  but  they  would  not  consent  to 
condemn  the  Templars  unheard,  although  the  King 
of  France  bullied  the  council  at  its  very  doors.  At 
last  the  Pope,  in  a  secret  consistory  of  the  bishops 
on  whom  he  could  depend,  announced  that  he  was 
going  to  dissolve  the  Templar  order,  not  as  a  con- 
demnation for  crime,  but  as  a  question  of  expediency, 
in  order  to  put  an  end  to  all  the  trouble.  This  was 
agreed  to,  and  on  April  3,  13 12,  the  act  of  dissolu- 
tion was  read  in  a  general  session  of  the  council,  the 
king  and  his  family  being  present. 

The  Pope  did  not  dare  openly  to  give  the  vast 
wealth  of  the  order  to  Philip,  but  reserved  to  himself 


22    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  to  the  church  the  disposition  of  the  knights  and 
of  their  possessions;  the  king,  however,  laid  hands 
on  a  great  deal  of  their  treasure.  In  France  most  of 
their  lands  and  castles  were  given  to  the  Knights  of 
St.  John,  who,  however,  did  not  profit  much  by  their 
\egacy,  for  Philip  put  in  so  many  claims  for  rent  and 
caretaking  and  repairs  that  he  eventually  got  a  great 
part  away  from  them.  In  the  other  countries  of 
Europe  trials  of  Templars  were  here  and  there  held, 
but  they  suffered  no  severe  punishment.  Of  course 
everywhere,  on  the  receipt  of  the  decree  of  the 
council,  the  order  was  dissolved,  and  generally  their 
possessions  were  given  to  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
save  in  Spain,  where  they  were  given  to  the  crown 
to  use  in  the  crusades  against  the  Moors.  Many  of 
the  Templars  became  Hospitallers,  many  went  back 
to  civil  life,  and  in  a  few  years  this  magnificent  order 
had  completely  vanished  away. 

It  is  one  of  the  strangest  episodes  in  history,  a  ruin 
so  complete,  so  quietly  accomplished,  and  about  which 
there  was  so  little  regret.  It  only  shows  how  com- 
pletely their  race  was  run  and  their  errand  accom- 
plished. It  is  not  worth  while  to  bring  up  a  modern 
theory,  which  has  been  advanced  by  some  German 
writers  (Wilcke,  Von  Hammer),  that  they  had  within 
themselves  a  secret  section,  where  was  taught  a  sort 
of  Oriental  mysticism,  tinctured  with  Gnosticism,  into 
which  members  after  long  probation  were  initiated, 
and  that  this  gave  rise  to  the  heretical  charges  against 
them  ;  for  the  theory  rests  only  on  vague  grounds  and 
far-fetched  conclusions.  It  is  not  history.  St.  An- 
tonino  of  Florence  puts  in  one  sentence  reason  enough 


Execution  of  De  Molay.  23 

for  their  ruin  :  "  The  whole  affair  was  woven  together 
by  avarice,  that  these  religious  Templars  might  be 
despoiled  of  their  goods." 

But  one  more  scene  need  be  shown  from  their  ro- 
mantic history.  For  six  years  and  a  half  the  Grand 
Master,  De  Molay,  and  three  other  chief  officers  of  the 
Temple  had  been  immured  in  a  Paris  prison,  and  on 
March  11,  1314,  they  were  brought  out  for  execu- 
tion. The  Arclibishop  of  Albi  mounted  a  pulpit  and 
began  to  read  their  confessions,  but  the  Grand  Mas- 
ter, undaunted  by  his  dreadful  sufferings  and  fate, 
interrupted  him,  and,  according  to  Milman,  used  the 
following  words :  "  Before  heaven  and  earth,  on  the 
verge  of  death,  when  the  least  falsehood  bears  like 
an  intolerable  weight  upon  the  soul,  I  protest  that 
we  have  richly  deserved  death,  not  on  account  of 
any  heresy  or  sin  of  which  ourselves  or  our  order 
has  been  guilty,  but  because  we  have  yielded,  to 
save  our  lives,  to  the  seductive  words  of  the  Pope 
and  the  king,  and  so  by  our  confessions  brought 
shame  and  ruin  on  our  blameless,  holy,  and  orthodox 
brotherhood."  This  made  a  profound  sensation  in 
the  great  crowd  present,  and  the  moment  the  king 
heard  of  it  he  ordered  the  wood  to  be  got  ready  for 
their  burning,  and  the  stakes  were  set  up  just  where 
the  statue  of  Henri  Quatre  now  stands  in  Paris. 
There  De  Molay  and  one  of  his  officers — for  the 
other  two  recanted — were  burned  alive,  the  cruel 
king  sitting  by  and  feasting  his  eyes  on  the  horrible 
spectacle.  There  went  about  the  rumor  for  many 
years  that  De  Molay  in  his  dying  moments  had  sum- 
moned Clement  and  Philip  to  meet  him  within  forty 


24   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

days  before  the  throne  of  the  Most  High,  but  there  is 
no  good  authority  for  any  such  statement.  Neither 
Clement  nor  PhiHp  died  until  the  year  after,  but  their 
base  and  unrighteous  conduct  is  not  forgotten,  and 
there  is  a  secret  order  now  extant  and  flourishing 
which  never  meets  without  repeating  in  the  most  sol- 
emn way,  "  Remember  Clement  V. ;  remember  Philip 
the  Fair." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AVIGNON. 

T  was  not  until  1309  that  Clement,  after 
dwelling  for  a  while  in  various  cities  in 
southern  France,  settled  himself  at  Avig- 
non, in  Provence.  Although  in  France, 
it  was  not  then  French  territory ;  it  be- 
longed to  the  countship  of  Provence,  and  therefore 
at  that  time  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  for  the  kings  of 
Naples  were  counts  of  Provence.  The  popes  bought 
it  from  Joanna  of  Naples  when  she  was  a  minor,  in 
1 348,  and  promised  to  pay  her  eighty  thousand  crowns 
of  gold  for  it ;  but  she  always  said  they  cheated  her 
out  of  that,  and  she  got  nothing.  She  was  a  lady, 
however,  who  had  as  little  regard  for  truth  as  she  had 
for  some  other  virtues.  Avignon  remained  papal 
territory  through  all  the  centuries  down  to  1 791,  when 
it  was  definitely  united  to  France.  It  is  still  sur- 
rounded by  the  lofty  walls  built  by  Clement  VI.  in 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  and  still  in  per- 
fect repair,  though  they  enclose  much  empty  space, 
for  the  population  has  greatly  dwindled  since  the 
popes  reigned  there. 

In  the  midst  of  the  modern  town,  which  is  well 
25 


26   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

worth  a  visit,  rises  the  vast  and  gloomy  palace  of  the 
popes,  its  ugliness  a  good  type  of  that  ugly  period 
of  church  history.  Clement  V.  commenced  it,  but  it 
was  enlarged  and  completed  by  Benedict  XII.  It 
has  served  for  many  years  as  a  barrack,  and  its  vast 
halls,  where  many  a  conclave  sat,  are  cut  up  into 
many  stories  and  filled  with  the  iron  cots  of  the  sol- 
diery and  all  their  arms  and  trappings.  All  this  is, 
however,  to  be  changed.  The  French  government 
has  constituted  it  an  historical  monument,  and  it  will 
soon  be  restored  as  nearly  as  possible  to  its  ancient 
splendor.  Petrarch  was  entertained  here,  and  here 
Rienzi  was  long  a  prisoner,  and  here  are  still  the  ruins 
of  the  chamber  of  torture,  and  still  are  the  frescoes 
visible  in  what  was  the  private  chapel  of  the  popes. 
Seven  popes  reigned  there,  all  Frenchmen:  1305, 
Clement  v.;  1316,  John  XXII. ;  1334,  Benedict  XII. ; 
1342,  Clement  VI.;  1352,  Innocent  VI.;  1362,  Ur- 
ban V. ;  1370,  Gregory  XL,  who  quitted  Avignon  for 
Rome.  But  there  came  afterwards  the  antipopes  who 
resided  at  Avignon  forty  years  :  1378,  Clement  VII. ; 
1394,  Benedict  XIII.;  1424,  Clement  VIII.  It  is  a 
pleasant  town  with  lovely  views,  and  the  papal  tombs 
in  the  old  cathedral  are  interesting,  though  there  is 
an  old  proverb  which  does  not  speak  very  well  for  its 
climate:  " Avenio ventosa;  sinevento, venenosa;  cum 
vento,  fastidiosa."  ("Avignon  the  windy;  without 
wind,  malarious;  with  wind,  nauseating.") 

Clement  did  not  long  enjoy  the  quiet  he  antici- 
pated after  the  long-drawn-out  and  trying  cases  of 
Boniface  and  the  Templars  were  settled.  His  health 
became  so  precarious  in  13 14  that  he  resolved  to  try 


Death  of  Clement —  Victory  over  Philip.    2  7 


the  air  of  his  native  place,  but  he  <,^ot  no  farther  than 
Roquemaure,  on  the  Rhone,  where  he  died  April  20, 
1 3 14,  and  his  body  was  removed  to  Carpcntras  for 
burial.  While  it  is  true  that  he  had  sold  himself  to 
the  French  king,  it  is  also  true  that  he  skilfully  evaded 
complying  with  all  that  pushing  monarch's  claims. 
He  really  managed  the  affair  of  Boniface  with  great 
cleverness,  and  escaped,  when  escape  did  not  seem 
possible,  censuring  in  terms  the  memory  of  that  much- 
abused  pontiff. 

He  also  got  the  better  of  Philip  in  a  much  more 
important  matter,  for  which  Europe  ow^es  him  a  debt 
of  gratitude.      Philip  at  one  time  seemed  to  be  in  a 
fair  way  of  getting  the  sway  over  most  of  Europe. 
French  princes  ruled  in  Naples  and  Hungary,  and  in 
England  Edward  H.  was  married  to  Philip's  daughter 
and  completely  under  his  thumb,  and  he  exhausted 
every  power  of  intrigue  to  have  his  near  relative, Charles 
of  Valois,  chosen  Emperor  of  Germany.    This  would 
have  made  French  influence  paramount  not  only  in 
Germany,  but  in  Italy.   Clement  realized  the  danger  of 
this,  and,  as  he  was  quite  as  good  an  intriguer  as  the 
king,  quietly,  yet  very  astutely,  he  separated  himself 
from  Philip's  candidate  and  threw  in  his  lot  with  Henry 
of  Luxemburg,  who  was  elected,  and  crowned  by  papal 
authority.    One  must  read  Dante's  "  De  Monarchia  " 
to  understand  the  feelings  of  the  imperialists,  or  Ghib- 
ellines,  as  those  were  called  who,  seeing  the  failure  of 
the  papal  scheme  for  universal  monarchy,  imagined  it 
could  be  realized  by  a  secular  prince,  the  Emperor  of 
Germany.     To  them,  and  to  Dante  especially,  Henry 
of  Luxemburg  was  the  ideal  of  this  universal  king. 


28   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

As  for  morals,  Clement  did  not  even  have  the  slight 
merit  of  hiding  his  immorality.  He  led  a  life  of  al- 
most open  profligacy,  and  suitors  for  papal  favor  well 
knew  that  the  person  first  to  be  gained  over,  if  they 
would  win  their  cause,  was  the  Pope's  mistress,  the 
well-known  sister  of  the  Count  of  Foix. 

Clement  was  very  severely  blamed  then,  and  has  been 
ever  since,  for  not  going  directly  to  Rome  on  his  elec- 
tion, but  there  is  very  much  to  be  said  on  his  side  of 
the  question.  Rome  was  anything  but  a  pleasant  resi- 
dence at  that  time,  and  the  hfe  of  a  Pope,  exposed  to 
the  sudden  riots  and  violent  outbreaks  of  the  Roman 
populace  when  their  will  was  crossed  in  the  slightest 
way,  could  not  have  been  a  very  enviable  one.  Few 
men,  with  a  safe  retreat  from  which  they  could  freely 
exercise  their  pontifical  authority,  would  have  con- 
sidered it  their  bounden  duty  to  transfer  themselves 
to  a  place  where  their  slightest  act  was  immediately 
arraigned  before  the  bar  of  a  rough  populace,  and 
where  the  streets  of  their  capital  echoed  unceasingly 
to  the  clang  of  arms,  as  the  contending  barons,  who 
had  turned  the  whole  city  into  a  collection  of  frown- 
ing fortresses,  met  in  conflict. 

It  was  not  alone  the  influence  of  the  French  mon- 
archy and  the  endearing  charms  of  their  native  land 
that  kept  the  Avignon  popes  so  long  away  from  Rome  ; 
it  was  a  wholesome  and  well-founded  dislike  to  im- 
perilling their  lives  and  their  liberty.  Documents 
now  in  course  of  publication  by  the  Vatican  show 
how  extensive  were  their  connections  with  the  whole 
world  during  that  period,  and  that  they  were  by  no 
means  idle  in  missionary  and  other  enterprises.     Of 


Condition  of  City  of  Rome.  29 

course  the  removal  of  the  papal  court  and  the  vast 
crowd  of  strangers  in  attendance  upon  it  worked 
most  disastrously  on  the  fortunes  of  the  Eternal  City. 
Rome  soon  became  a  scene  of  isolation  and  of  an- 
archy. The  churches  were  so  neglected  that  even  in 
St.  Peter  and  in  St.  John  Lateran  cattle  grazed  up  to 
the  very  foot  of  the  altar.  Many  of  the  churches 
were  roofless,  and  as  ruined  as  the  remnants  of  classic 
days.  A  legate  sold  the  marble  blocks  of  the  Colos- 
seum to  be  burned  for  lime,  and  the  records  of  the 
cathedral  of  Orvieto  show  more  marble  imported 
from  Rome  than  from  Carrara. 

The  only  public  work  which  can  be  positively 
traced  to  the  Avignon  exile  are  those  grand  marble 
steps  which  lead  up  to  the  church  of  Ara  Coeli.  As 
travellers  of  those  days  looked  from  the  baths  of  Dio- 
cletian, their  eyes  ranged  over  a  wide  space  of  un- 
cultivated fields,  solitary  churches,  scattered  rows  of 
houses,  masses  of  ancient  and  modern  ruins,  with 
nothing  to  distinguish  it  from  the  open  country  but 
the  circuit  of  the  old  walls  of  Aurelian.  Two  ruined 
cities,  the  classic  and  the  mediaeval,  made  up  the  one 
ruined  Rome. 


CHAPTER  V. 

JOHN    XXII. 

HE  cardinals  who  had  assembled  at  Car- 
pentras  for  Clement's  funeral  resolved  to 
hold  the  conclave  for  the  election  of  the 
new  Pope  in  the  same  place,  and  it  shows 
how  completely  and  how  swiftly  the  resi- 
dence in  France  had  changed  the  complexion  of  that 
body,  when  we  find  that  of  the  twenty-three  compos- 
ing the  Sacred  College  only  six  were  Italians.  Dante 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  conclave,  which  is  still  extant, 
urging  the  return  of  the  papal  court  to  Rome.  He 
uses  very  plain  language :  "  You,  the  chiefs  of  the 
church  militant,  have  neglected  to  guide  the  chariot 
of  the  bride  of  the  Crucified  One  along  the  path  so 
clearly  marked  out  to  her.  One  only  remedy  now 
remains.  You  who  have  been  the  authors  of  the  con- 
fusion must  go  forth  manfully  with  one  heart  and  one 
mind  into  the  fray  in  defence  of  the  bride  of  Christ, 
whose  seat  is  in  Rome.  You  must  work  to  the  dis- 
grace of  the  covetous  Gascons,  seeking  to  rob  the 
Latins  of  their  name."  From  other  high  sources  also 
earnest  appeals  were  made  to  the  cardinals  to  elect  a 
Pope  pledged  to  go  back  to  Rome. 

30 


Character  of  Joht  XXII.  31 

Although  the  great  majority  were  Frenchmen,  they 
were  divided  among  themselves.  Gascons  could  not 
agree  with  Limousins,  and  while  they  were  hesitating 
and  bickering  a  mob  headed  by  two  of  Clement's 
nephews  burst  in  upon  them  with  shouts  of  "  Death 
to  the  Gascons!"  and  amid  the  blaze  of  the  building 
where  they  were  gathered,  the  frightened  cardinals 
fled  away  from  Carpentras.  Two  years  passed  away 
before  they  could  be  induced  to  meet  again,  Louis, 
Philip's  successor,  persuading  them  to  come  to  Lyons, 
promising  that  they  should  not  be  shut  up  in  the 
electing-room,  as  the  rule  was ;  but  the  king  suddenly 
died,  and  Philip  V.,  his  successor,  did  not  consider 
his  brother's  promise  binding.  He  immediately  walled 
up  and  guarded  the  convent  where  the  conclave  was 
meeting,  so  the  cardinals  were  forced  by  hard  neces- 
sity to  elect,  and  they  chose  the  Cardinal  of  Porto, 
who  took  the  name  of  John  XXIL 

He  was  of  humble  origin,  simple  in  his  habits  and 
decent  in  his  morals.  He  had  a  very  xiolent  and  eas- 
ily aroused  temper,  was  well  read,  a  good  preacher, 
skilled  in  affairs  and  very  active  in  prosecuting  them. 
There  are  now  reposing  in  the  papal  archives  sixty 
thousand  documents  written  in  the  time  of  John  XXH. 
and  connected  with  him.  It  is  said  that  he  secured 
the  votes  of  the  Italian  cardinals  by  pledging  himself 
never  to  mount  a  horse  except  to  return  to  Rome, 
and  that  he  evaded  the  spirit  of  his  vow  by  going 
from  Lyons  to  Avignon  in  a  boat  and  never  leaving 
it  to  mount  anything.  This  was  quite  in  the  taste  of 
the  times. 

The  new  Pope  did  not  have  to  contend  with  an 


32    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

adversary  of  as  strong  a  character  as  Philip  the  Fair, 
for  the  French  kings  of  his  time  were  not  cast  in  so 
vigorous  a  mould ;  but  he  had  to  meet  two  adversa- 
ries of  very  different  character  and  very  determined. 
One  was  "  the  Spirituals,"  under  which  head  may  be 
placed  all  those  who  were  horrified  and  shocked  at 
the  worldliness  and  sinfulness  of  the  church  as  exem- 
plified in  its  highest  prelates,  and  the  other  was  the 
rapidly  growing  party  which  held  that  the  empire  and 
the  Papacy  were  entirely  separate  and  each  ought  to 
confine  itself  to  its  own  department. 

Dante  is  to  us  the  best-known  champion  of  that 
theory.  He  held  that  the  empire  (the  Roman,  of 
course)  existed  before  the  church,  which  received 
from  Christ  no  authority  over  the  empire,  and  has 
none.  "  Yet  let  Caesar  be  reverent  to  Peter  as  a  first- 
born son  to  a  father."  Egidio  Colonna  and  John  of 
Paris  both  asserted  that  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
powers  were  alike  independent,  each  with  its  own 
sphere  of  action.  Christ  did  not  exercise  jurisdiction 
in  temporal  matters,  therefore  Christ's  successors 
should  not. 

John  very  soon  found  himself  in  a  violent  quarrel 
with  the  extreme  party  in  the  Franciscan  order. 
That  party  held  that  no  Pope  and  no  priest  had  any 
right  to  hold  property,  that  our  Lord  and  His  apostles 
had  the  use  but  not  the  ownership  of  whatever  was 
necessary  for  life,  and  so  the  Pope  should  only  have 
the  use  of  what  was  needed  for  the  life  of  the  church, 
but  no  power  of  disposing  of  it  or  of  hoarding  trea- 
sure or  using  it  for  luxury.  They  used  the  curious 
argument  that  St.  Francis  had  owned  nothing,  there- 


Quarrel  of  John  with  Monks  and  Emperor.  33 


fore  if  the  Saviour  did,  it  would  prove  Him  less  perfect 
than  St.  Francis,  which  would  be  blasphemous.  This 
doctrine  is,  of  course,  right  in  the  face  of  all  social  pol- 
ity, and  it  is  no  wonder  that  John  XXII.  could  not 
stomach  it,  and  that  he  issued  bull  after  bull,  and 
employed  fire  and  sword,  as  well  as  bell,  book,  and 
candle,  to  put  down  so  pestilent  an  error.  The 
Franciscans  were,  however,  mutinous  and  obstinate, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  accuse  the  Pope  of  heresy. 
They  set  him  forth  as  the  head  of  a  carnal  church, 
full  of  luxury  and  worldliness,  and  they  opposed  to  him 
their  own  spiritual  church,  simple,  poor,  God-fear- 
ing. All  the  tongues  of  all  the  wandering  Franciscan 
friars,  the  idols  of  the  people,  wagged  incessantly, 
preaching  everywhere  that  the  Pope  and  the  Roman 
court  were  the  mystical  Antichrist  and  the  great 
Babylonish  harlot  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  Such  very 
plain  speaking  in  the  Church  of  Rome  had  never 
been  heard  before. 

While  John  was  in  the  midst  of  this  difficulty,  an- 
other loomed  up — the  succession  to  the  German  em- 
pire. Two  claimants,  Frederic  of  Austria  and  Louis 
of  Bavaria,  laid  their  cases  before  the  Pope,  and  each 
begged  his  confirmation.  He  at  last  took  sides  for 
Frederic,  and  then  of  course  the  Spiritual  Franciscans 
took  sides  for  Louis.  John  arrogantly  asserted  his 
right  to  decide  who  should  be  emperor,  and  com- 
manded Louis  to  give  up  or  be  excommunicated. 
Louis  had  not  the  slightest  intention  of  submitting, 
and  was  soon  excommunicated  and  put  under  the 
ban.  Such  high-handed  action  in  a  Pope  aroused 
great  and  wide-spread  resistance.    Everywhere  great 


34    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

lawyers  and  casuists  arrayed  themselves  on  the  em- 
peror's side,  and  now  commenced  the  publication  of 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  documents  that  ever 
have  appeared  on  the  principles  of  the  liberty  of  the 
subject  and  the  independence  of  the  civil  government 
in  regard  to  the  church.  Some  were  from  the  clerical, 
some  from  the  lay  element. 

Among  the  former  let  us  cite  two,  the  General  of 
the  Franciscans,  Cesena,  and  William  of  Occam, 
called  the  "  Invincible  Doctor."  Cesena  (Tractate 
against  the  errors  of  the  Pope)  appeals  from  the  Pope 
to  the  universal  church  and  a  general  council  which 
in  faith  and  morals  is  superior  to  the  Pope,  since  a 
Pope  can  err  in  faith  and  morals,  for  many  Roman 
pontiffs  have  fallen  from  the  faith,  but  the  universal 
church  cannot  err,  and  a  council  representing  the 
universal  church  is  likewise  free  from  error.  William 
of  Occam  (Tractate  on  the  decisions  of  the  Pope)  says : 
"  It  is  not  necessary  that  there  should  be  one  primate 
over  the  church,  for  the  head  of  the  church  is  Christ, 
and  by  its  union  with  Him  the  church  has  unity." 
Occam  lays  down  the  doctrine  of  the  supreme  author- 
ity of  Scripture  in  plain  terms.  The  Pope  may  err,  a 
general  council  may  err,  the  fathers  are  not  entirely 
exempt  from  error ;  only  Holy  Scripture  and  the  be- 
liefs of  the  universal  church  are  of  absolute  validity. 

On  the  lay  side,  the  most  remarkable  book  of  all, 
and  one  well  worth  reading  now,  was  the  "  Defensor 
Pacis,"  written  principally  by  Marsiglio,  an  Italian  of 
Padua,  professor  in  the  University  of  Paris,  forming 
one  of  that  brilliant  group  of  which  William  of  Occam 
was  a  member.     It  is  astonishing  to  find  in  the  be- 


The  ''Defensor  Pacis!'  35 


ginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  amid  all  the 
tyranny  and  despotism,  both  clerical  and  lay,  every- 
where prevailing,  a  man  laying  down  the  very  princi- 
ples on  which  the  American  government  is  founded. 
Me  says:  "  The  legislator,  or  the  first  efficient  source 
of  law,  is  the  people,  or  the  community  of  citizens, 
expressing  their  will  by  a  majority  in  a  general  assem- 
bly." 

This  book  made  a  great  sensation  and  had  a  won- 
derful influence,  and  the  brilliant  arguments  which 
were  made  in  the  reforming  councils  owed  their  might 
to  the  study  the  speakers  had  made  of  this  keen  and 
unsurpassed  analysis  of  power.  "The  church,"  he 
says,  "  is  the  community  of  all  who  believe  in  Christ. 
So  far  as  a  priest  has  property  it  must  be  subject  to 
the  general  laws  of  property.  Christ  exercised  no 
coercive  jurisdiction  and  did  not  confer  any  on  the 
apostles;  on  the  contrary,  He  warned  them  by  pre- 
cept and  by  example  to  keep  away  from  it.  Priests 
have  no  power  to  compel  men  to  obey  God's  law, 
but  as  doctors  advise  for  the  body,  so  can  they  advise 
for  the  soul.  Civil  punishment  attaches  to  heresy 
only  so  far  as  it  interferes  with  civil  law.  St.  Peter 
had  no  authority  over  the  other  apostles,  and  the 
legend  that  he  was  the  first  Bishop  of  Rome  rests  on 
no  Scripture  authority  and  has  no  historical  evidence. 
No  decretals  of  popes  are  necessary  to  support  Cath- 
olic faith;  that  rests  on  Scripture  alone;  and  when 
doubts  arise  about  the  meaning  of  Scripture  they 
can  only  be  settled  in  a  general  council  of  the  faith- 
ful in  which  both  clergy  and  laity  have  seats.  The 
authority  of  the  Roman  bishop  is  necessary  to  give 


36    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

a  head  to  the  church  and  a  president  to  its  councils, 
but  he  has  no  power  of  coercion  beyond  what  a 
council  bestows.  His  primacy  springs  from  conve- 
nience and  respect."  There  is  really  no  book  which 
had  greater  weight  in  the  development  of  European 
politics  and  in  preparation  for  the  Reformation  than 
this  treatise  of  the  Paduan  lawyer. 

All  efforts  to  reconcile  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
Louis  proved  ineffectual,  and  the  Pope's  bitter  hatred 
aroused  deeper  and  deeper  opposition  to  him  among 
the  Spiritual  Franciscans,  and  indeed  among  all  holy- 
minded  and  peace-loving  people.  The  Franciscans 
eagerly  watched  John's  every  word,  and  the  Pope, 
being  a  good  talker  and  preacher  and  priding  himself 
on  his  knowledge  of  theology,  uttered  a  great  many. 
With  great  joy  they  discovered  that  he  had  fallen 
into  heresy.  He  asserted  in  a  sermon  that  the  saints 
would  not  enjoy  the  beatific  vision  of  our  blessed 
Lord  until  the  end  of  the  world ;  that  even  St.  Peter 
and  the  Blessed  Virgin  would  not  have  that  privilege. 
Now,  of  course,  this  is  a  matter  of  pure  speculation. 
Nobody  can  possibly  know  anything  about  it,  and  the 
Scriptures  do  not  favor  any  particular  view ;  but  that 
did  not  make  any  difference.  Europe  rang  with  the 
cry  and  counter-cry  of  heresy,  and  the  King  of  France 
referred  the  matter  to  the  theological  faculty  of  Paris, 
which  fiercely  debated  this  purely  imaginary  ques- 
tion. The  Pope  spent  much  money  and  many  argu- 
ments in  trying  to  get  a  decision  in  his  favor,  but  the 
university  would  not  hear  to  it,  and  the  French  king 
declared :  "  If  the  saints  do  not  behold  the  Godhead, 
of  what  value  is  their  intercession?"  which  is  a  noii 


The  Antipope  Nicolas   V.  ^y 

scquitur.  The  storm  raged  so  fiercely  that  John 
had  to  succumb,  and  he  declared  that  he  had  only 
intended  to  state  an  opinion,  not  to  decide  in  favor 
of  it.  It  was  not,  however,  until  he  lay  down  to  die 
that  he  abjured  his  pet  doctrine  and  professed  the 
ordinary  opinion  that  souls  not  in  purgatory  are  in 
heaven  and  see  God  face  to  face  as  far  as  separate 
souls  can  so  do. 

The  quarrel  between  the  Pope  and  Louis  cannot 
be  followed  in  all  its  details,  but  January,  1328,  wit- 
nessed the  crowning  of  Louis  in  Rome  at  St.  Peter's 
by  two  bishops,  already  excommunicated.  As  soon 
as  the  Pope  heard  of  it  he  excommunicated  every- 
body connected  with  it,  and  Louis  retorted  by  sum- 
moning an  assembly  at  Rome  which  declared  John 
a  heretic  and  a  traitor  and  deposed  him  from  the 
papal  throne.  This  same  assembly  a  few  days  after 
elected  by  acclamation  Peter,  a  humble  monk,  once 
married,  but  now  separated  from  his  wife,  to  be 
Pope.  This  assumption  by  the  Roman  people  of  the 
right  to  name  the  emperor  and  the  Pope  was  most 
extraordinary.  What  possible  right  could  they  have 
had  in  the  matter?  Louis,  however,  invested  this 
shadow  Pope  with  the  papal  mantle,  and  he  took  the 
name  of  Nicolas  V.,  and  forthwith  named  seven 
cardinals,  commenced  to  sell  offices  and  preferments 
in  regular  papal  style,  and  to  put  money  in  his  purse. 
His  power  was,  however,  short-lived.  The  Romans 
soon  grew  tired  of  Louis,  and  he  fled  away  from 
Rome,  taking  the  antipope  with  him.  In  less  than 
two  years  he  was  back  in  Germany  and  Nicolas  left 
behind  at  Pisa,  where  the  noble  with  whom  he  had 


38    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

taken  refuge  gave  him  up  to  the  real  Pope  on  con- 
sideration that  his  hfe  should  be  spared.  He  went  to 
Avignon,  put  a  rope  around  his  neck,  and  threw  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  John,  who  raised  him  up,  took  off 
the  rope,  and  assigned  him  an  apartment  in  the  papal 
palace,  where  he  lived  in  seclusion  until  his  death. 

The  feeling  against  the  Pope  grew  more  and  more 
intense,  the  Franciscans  always  fanning  the  flame. 
It  was  not  only  the  fruit  of  his  hard  nature,  but  his 
avarice,  his  terrible  greed,  and  his  utter  worldliness. 
No  Pope  before  him  had  ever  so  plunged  into  politics ; 
no  Pope,  avaricious  as  many  had  been,  had  ever 
reached  out  such  cruel,  grasping  hands  as  he  had. 
He  was  a  very  ardent  promoter  of  that  hideous 
abuse  called  "  annates,"  which  reserved  to  the  Pope 
the  first  year's  income  of  all  ecclesiastical  dignities; 
and  it  was  the  attempt  to  press  that  tax  in  England 
that  led,  in  1351,  to  the  passage  of  those  famous 
statutes  of  "  provisors  "  and  "  premunire,"  the  former 
directed  against  papal  presentations  to  benefices,  and 
the  latter  forbidding  the  faulting  of  judgments  ren- 
dered in  the  royal  courts  and  any  resort  to  foreign 
tribunals.  Long  after,  they  served  Henry  VHI.  many 
a  good  turn  in  his  war  against  papal  supremacy. 

And  now  the  time  had  come  for  John  to  die  and 
leave  all  his  treasures  and  his  worldly  politics.  He 
was  over  ninety.  He  had  been  an  able  pontiff,  and 
held  his  own  well  against  the  sovereigns  of  Europe, 
but  he  was  not  a  very  notable  example  to  the  flock. 
He  was  the  second  cobbler's  son  who  rose  to  the 
papal  throne,  a  fact  which  speaks  well  for  the  church 
in  those  days,  when  a  feudal  aristocracy  had  its  iron 


Death  of  John  XXII.  39 

heel  on  everything.  So  narrow  was  he  in  his  ideas 
of  the  Papacy  that  he  could  scarcely  be  brought  to 
confer  the  cardinalate  on  any  one  outside  his  nati\e 
diocese  of  Cahors.  Loud  was  the  outcry  after  his 
death  when  the  enormous  treasure  he  had  accumu- 
lated came  to  light.  There  were  eighteen  millions 
of  gold  florins,  and  seven  millions  in  plate  and  jewels. 
No  wonder  Villani,  the  historian,  says,  "  He  had  for- 
gotten those  words  of  Scripture,  '  Lay  not  up  for 
yourselves  treasures  upon  earth.'  "  Yet  cruel,  ava- 
ricious, simoniacal,  and  worldly  as  he  was,  he  never 
one  day  neglected  to  hear  mass  and  perform  the  out- 
ward duties  of  religion,  so  possible  is  it  to  disconnect 
entirely  outward  form  from  inward  holiness. 


CHAPTER  VL 

BENEDICT    XII. 


jHEN  John  died,  A.D.  1334,  he  left  a  col- 
lege of  cardinals  twenty-four  in  number, 
mostly  French,  and  it  is  curious  to  see  at 
their  head  a  name  which  centuries  later 
was  everywhere  heard  in  the  world  of 
Napoleon  and  the  Restoration,  Cardinal  de  Talley- 
rand-Perigord.  The  conclave  met  in  Avignon,  and 
was  shut  up  according  to  the  usual  form  in  the  papal 
palace.  They  all  agreed  to  offer  the  vacant  tiara  to 
the  Cardinal  de  Comminges,  but  they  wanted  a 
pledge  from  him  first  that  he  would  not  remove  from 
Avignon.  He  absolutely  refused  to  be  bound  by 
any  such  pledge,  and  it  was  necessary  to  choose 
some  one  else.  They  juggled  and  traded  with  their 
votes,  and  by  an  accident  happened  to  choose,  De- 
cember 30,  1334,  the  one  they  least  expected  and 
perhaps  least  wanted,  James  Fournier,  Bishop  of 
Mirepoix  and  Cardinal  of  St.  Prisca,  who  took  the 
name  of  Benedict  XII.  As  soon  as  his  election  was 
announced  to  him  he  said,  "  Brethren,  you  have 
chosen  an  ass."  It  would  have  been  much  nearer 
the  truth  if  he  had  said,  "  You  have  chosen  a  fox,'' 

40 


Character  of  Be7icdict  XII.  41 


for  there  was  nothing  of  the  ass  in  his  character,  but 
a  great  deal  of  shrewdness  and  excellent  sense. 

Nothing  worth  noticing  stands  against  his  moral 
character,  though  Petrarch  declares  he  was  over- 
fond  of  eating  and  drinking.  He  certainly  labored 
earnestly  to  purge  the  Augean  stable  of  Avignon. 
The  city  was  crowded  with  idle  priests,  greedy  for 
crumbs  which  might  fall  from  the  Pope's  table  of 
preferment.  He  drove  them  away  to  their  convents 
and  their  rectories.  He  did  away  with  that  pretty 
custom  of  his  predecessors  of  promoting  six  or  eight 
persons  whenever  a  vacancy  occurred,  and  thus 
pocketing  six  or  eight  fees.  He  ordered  that  no 
canonries  in  cathedrals  should  be  bestowed  on  boys 
under  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  that  they  ever  should 
have  been  bestowed  on  men  under  thirty  is  a  bitter 
comment  on  the  worldliness  which  ruled  the  church. 
His  remark  to  the  French  king,  Philip  VI.,  speaks 
well  for  him.  When  that  king  insisted  on  his  keep- 
ing up  a  bitter  quarrel  with  Louis  of  Bavaria,  he  re- 
plied, "  If  I  had  two  souls,  I  would  willingly  sacrifice 
one  to  do  your  Majesty  service ;  but  as  I  have  only 
one,  I  cannot  go  beyond  what  I  think  is  right." 

He  differed  from  the  popes  before  him  in  refusing 
to  advance  his  family,  and  said  that  a  Pope  should 
be  like  Melchizedek,  without  father,  without  mother, 
without  genealogy.  He  tried  bravely  to  reform  the 
monastic  institutions,  but  his  attempt  only  aroused 
a  fierce  animosity,  and  it  was  a  monk  who  wrote  the 
famous  couplet  about  him : 

"  Nero  he  was,  to  laymen  death,  a  viper  to  a  monk ; 
He  never  told  the  truth  and  constantly  was  drunk." 


42    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

But  such  couplets,  especially  in  those  times,  must  be 
received  with  a  great  deal  of  allowance.  He  was  a 
peace-loving  man,  and  it  was  a  bitter  grief  to  him 
that  he  could  not  act  as  he  wished,  and  make  up  the 
quarrel  with  the  emperor.  Louis  fretted  deeply  un- 
der his  excommunication,  although  the  civil  authority 
in  Germany  ordered  it  everywhere  to  be  utterly  dis- 
regarded. The  imperial  electors,  with  the  exception 
of  Bohemia,  stood  bravely  by  him,  and  at  a  meeting 
at  Rhense  in  1338  they  resolved  that  the  empire  was 
held  directly  under  God,  and  that  an  emperor  chosen 
by  all  or  only  a  majority  of  the  electors  needed  no 
confirmation  from  the  Pope.  But  all  this  did  not 
calm  the  soul  of  the  frightened  Louis.  The  papal 
interdict  hung  over  him  like  a  poised  sword,  and  in 
1 341  he  made  abject  attempts  at  reconciliation.  In 
1342,  however,  he  did  a  thing  which  placed  his  par- 
don further  off  than  ever,  and  at  which  all  Europe 
stood  aghast. 

Margaret,  Duchess  of  Tyrol,  called  generally  Mar- 
garet Maultasch,  or  "  Pocket-mouthed  Meg  "  (though 
Hefele  says  the  name  came  from  the  castle  where  she 
was  born),  had  been  married  to  a  very  young  Bohe- 
mianprince.  It  was  an  ill  match,  and  Louis  wanted  her 
and  her  vast  heritage  for  his  son.  No  bishop  could  be 
found  to  grant  a  divorce  and  dispensation,  for  Margaret 
and  the  emperor's  son  were  related  within  the  pro- 
hibited degrees.  Louis  was  foolish  enough  to  decree 
the  divorce  himself,  and  grant  a  dispensation  for  her 
marriage  to  his  son.  He  had  an  evil  adviser  in  this, 
Marsiglio,  who  wrote  the  "  Defensor  Pacis."  His  ar- 
gument was  the  one  which  now  prevails  extensively, 


Death  of  Benedict  XII.  43 


that  if  a  marriage  or  a  divorce  be  against  the  law  of 
God,  neither  church  nor  state  can  make  it  lawful ;  but 
if  the  impediment  be  one  properly  removable  by  human 
law,  the  civil  power,  and  not  the  ecclesiastical,  ought 
to  remove  it.  Civil  power  does  that  everywhere  now, 
but  then  it  was  considered  almost  blasphemy  thus  to 
intrude  into  the  province  of  the  church,  and  certainly 
as  matters  stood  between  Louis  and  the  church  noth- 
ing could  have  been  more  foolhardy  than  this  arbi- 
trary exercise  of  power,  especially  as  it  was  not  to  up- 
hold a  general  principle,  but  for  a  selfish  advantage. 
This  counsel  of  Marsiglio  was  a  great  blow  to  the 
rapidly  spreading  church-reform  party,  and  its  effects 
were  seen  when  the  great  schism  came  into  existence. 
The  quarrel  between  church  and  state,  as  personified 
in  Benedict  and  Louis,  was  blazing  as  fiercely  as  ever 
when  the  death  of  Benedict  occurred,  April  25,  1342. 
It  is  said  that  when  dying  he  was  asked  to  empower 
some  one  to  absolve  him,  but  he  replied,  "  I  will  not 
give  my  glory  to  another,  but  submit  myself  to  the 
mercy  of  God."  The  monkish  chroniclers,  who,  as 
has  been  said,  disliked  him  for  his  attempt  to  reform 
the  monastic  orders,  finish  their  account  of  him  by 
saying,  "  Nobody  cried  much  for  him." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CLEMENT    VI. 

GAIN  the  conclave  gathered  at  Avignon. 
It  was  not  a  long  one,  and  the  choice  fell, 
as  was  to  be  expected,  on  a  Frenchman, 
the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  and  Cardinal 
of  St.  Nereo,  who  took  the  name  of 
Clement  VI.,  and  immediately  named  ten  cardinals, 
all  Frenchmen  but  one.  He  was  in  every  sense  a 
Frenchman,  gallant,  gay,  generous,  brilliant,  and  in 
every  way  the  reverse  of  his  predecessor.  His  morals 
were  of  an  easy  kind,  and  no  one  in  the  world  loved 
ease  and  splendor  and  good  living  more  than  he. 
He  forgave  and  forgot  with  truly  royal  nobleness. 
He  scattered  bishoprics  and  abbacies  and  rich  prefer- 
ments with  a  lavish  hand,  and  put  forth  a  brief  that 
any  poor  priest  who  should  present  himself  at  the 
palace  in  Avignon  within  two  months  would  find  it 
greatly  to  his  advantage.  It  is  said  that  one  hundred 
thousand  availed  themselves  of  this  invitation,  and 
each  man  went  away  with  something  in  his  cassock 
pocket.  He  intended  not  only  to  help  others  to  have 
a  CTOod  time,  but  to  have  one  himself,  and  the  court 
of  the  ruler  of  Western  Christendom  soon  became  the 
talk  of  the  world  for  hard  drinking  and  free  living. 
The  great  Avignon    palace   spread    out   its   boun- 

44 


Morals  of  Avignon — Benedict  and  Louis.  45 

daries,  and  painters  and  decorators  thronged  its  vast 
halls. 

Petrarch,  not  much  of  a  moralist  himself,  for  he 
left  two  natural  children,  has  bequeathed  to  us  some 
bitter  words  about  the  vice  and  worldHness  of  the 
papal  city.  Much  that  he  said  cannot  be  decently- 
transcribed.  He  calls  Avignon  the  sink  of  Christen- 
dom. "  Whatever  you  have  read  of  the  gates  of 
hell,"  he  says,  "  will  apply  to  this  place."  His  utter- 
ances, however,  must  be  taken  with  some  salt,  for  he 
was  enraged  at  the  steady  refusal  of  the  Pope  and 
cardinals  to  go  back  to  Rome.  That  vice,  not  only 
of  the  popes,  but  of  all  unscrupulous  men  in  power, 
nepotism,  never  reached  a  greater  height  than  under 
Clement.  He  heaped  rich  revenues  on  even  his  re- 
motest cousins,  even  on  every  applicant  from  his 
own  town.  One  of  his  nephews  he  made  a  cardinal  at 
eighteen. 

Merciful  and  easy-going  as  Clement  was,  there  was 
one  man  towards  whom  his  heart  was  as  hard  as  the 
nether  millstone,  and  that  was  the  German  emperor, 
Louis.  It  was  indeed  very  hard  for  any  one  to  get  on 
with  Louis,  for  his  hfe  was  a  continual  see-saw  between 
the  church  and  the  state.  One  day  he  was  governed 
by  the  one  and  the  next  day  submissive  to  the  other. 
He  began  by  threatening  not  to  acknowledge  Clement 
for  Pope,  and  then  when  the  Pope  excommunicated 
him  over  again  he  licked  the  very  dust  under  the 
papal  shpper,  begged  the  Pope  to  dictate  the  terms 
of  his  submission,  was  ready  to  take  back  anything 
and  everything,  and  in  set  terms,  which  we  can  read, 
to  submit  his  affairs,  his  state,  his  wishes,  and  his  ob- 


46   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

jections  {velle  ct  nolle,  retaining  nothing  within  the 
power  of  his  own  judgment)  absolutely  and  freely  to 
"  our  lord  the  Pope."  All  this  was  promised  for  the 
emperor  by  his  ambassadors.  This  would  seem  hu- 
miliation enough  for  the  head  of  the  empire,  the  first 
sovereign  in  the  world,  before  the  haughty  worldling 
in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter;  but  the  Pope  insisted  on 
more.  He  laid  down,  as  necessary  terms  to  a  recon- 
ciliation, that  Louis  should  beg  him  to  grant  the 
privilege  of  administering  the  empire,  and  should 
promise  to  make  no  law  without  special  permission 
of  the  Holy  See. 

No  wonder  that  when  Louis  appeared  before  the 
diet  in  Frankfort,  September,  1344,  there  was  a  loud 
and  bitter  outcry  and  murmurs  that  an  emperor 
who  had  fallen  so  low  should  be  driven  from  the 
throne.  Under  such  a  storm  of  obloquy,  Louis  hesi- 
tated to  ratify  the  papal  demands,  and  Clement  then 
launched  another  bull,  which  is  as  pretty  a  model 
of  fancy  cursing  as  exists  in  the  whole  papal  reper- 
tory, already  very  rich  in  such  documents.  Here 
are  a  few  elegant  extracts  :  "  Let  him  be  accursed  com- 
ing in  and  going  out.  The  Lord  smite  him  with  folly 
and  blindness  and  frenzy  of  mind.  Let  the  heavens 
send  their  lightnings  upon  him.  Let  the  whole  earth 
fight  against  him.  Let  the  ground  open  and  swallow 
him  up  alive.  Let  all  the  merits  of  the  saints  above 
confound  him  and  make  open  display  of  vengeance 
upon  him  in  this  life,  and  let  him  with  his  own  eyes 
see  his  children  destroyed  in  the  hands  of  enemies." 
A  distinguished  Roman  Catholic  writer  of  modern 
times  (Baader)  has  added  this  comment :  "  Thou  rav- 


Effects  on  the  Papacy  of  tJic  Contest.     47 

est,  O  Peter.  Thy  great  pride  hath  made  thee 
mad." 

And  now  commenced  in  the  conclave  and  through- 
out Germany  a  violent  war  of  words,  which  seemed 
the  precursor  of  a  terrible  civil  war.  The  Pope  took 
up  Charles  of  Bohemia,  who  put  himself  under  the 
papal  slipper,  but  Germany  would  have  none  of  him, 
and  when  he  was  away  at  the  battle  of  Cressy,  where 
he  had  accompanied  his  father,  the  blind  King  John, 
his  chances  sank  lower  than  ever.  Louis,  turncoat 
that  he  was,  had  many  followers,  and  each  side  was 
about  to  appeal  to  arms  when  Louis  was  killed  by  a 
fall  in  the  hunting-field,  and  the  cause  of  so  much  and 
such  long-continued  strife  was  removed.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  Charles  submitted  to  a  new  election  in 
Frankfort  and  received  his  crown  expressly  from  the 
electors,  and  not  from  the  Pope,  that  Germany  would 
acknowledge  him  as  the  lawful  emperor. 

As  we  review  the  long  controversy,  it  would  seem 
as  if  the  Pope  got  the  best  of  it ;  and  it  is  true  that 
there  was  as  yet  no  organized  resistance  to  the  Pope 
which  was  enduring,  but  popular  opinion  was  being 
educated,  and  never  again  would  the  Papacy  be  blindly 
accepted  as  a  divine  and  untrammelled  institution."" 
Henceforth  it  would  be  sharply  criticised,  and  instead 
of  being  the  supreme  power  in  Europe,  it  would  take 
its  place  among  the  other  powers,  as  one  state  among 
other  states.  Creighton  makes  a  very  just  remark 
when  he  says  that  the  conflict  with  Louis  of  Bavaria 
ends  the  mediaeval  period  of  the  history  of  the 
Papacy. 

Clement  had  not  long  been  Pope  when  the  Romans 


48    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

sent  an  embassy  to  beg  him  to  return  to  Rome  and 
toshorten  the  period  of  the  jubilee.  Boniface  had  fixed 
it  at  once  in  a  century,  but  the  Christian  world  in  gen- 
eral thought  that  too  long,  and  they  entreated  Clement 
to  shorten  it  to  fifty  years.  This  request  he  graciously 
granted,  while  he  evaded  the  other  very  urgent  one 
to  return  to  Rome.  The  bull  which  he  issued  about 
the  jubilee  is  most  curious,  for  in  it  he  sets  forth  the 
papal  power  over  the  holy  angels  in  these  remarkable 
words :  "  If  any  one  dies  on  the  way  to  the  celebra- 
tion, we  command  the  angels  of  paradise  immediately 
to  free  his  soul  from  purgatory  and  introduce  it  into 
the  glories  of  paradise."  Among  the  ambassadors 
from  Rome  were  two  famous  men,  whose  names  still 
live  in  history  :  Petrarch,  who  had  just  been  crowned 
with  laurel  in  the  Capitol  at  Rome,  Easter,  1341,  and 
Rienzi,  whose  eloquence  pleased  the  Pope  so  much 
that  he  bestowed  on  him  the  place  of  papal  notary, 
the  salary  of  which  afiforded  him  a  suitable  living. 
His  character  and  astonishing  career  well  merit  a  de- 
tailed account.  They  throw  much  light  on  the  condi- 
tion of  Rome  and  the  popular  movement  in  the  Italian 
cities.  This  seems  the  proper  place  to  sketch  his  life, 
and  also  those  other  two  remarkable  events  in  the 
pontificate  of  Clement,  the  Black  Death  and  the  story 
of  the  Flagellants. 


^ 

^ 

S    V  \ 

^ 

^    A^ 

ij, 

1 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

RIENZI. 

ICOLAS  GABRINI,  whom  we  call  Rienzi 
from  a  diminutive  of  his  name  Lorenzo, 
just  as  we  call  him  Cola  di  Rienzi  from 
the  diminutive  of  his  name  Nicolo,  was 
born  at  Rome  in  13  13  or  13 14.  The  palace 
they  show  you  now  in  Rome  was  never  at  all  con- 
nected with  him.  His  father  was  a  small  innkeeper, 
and  his  mother  took  in  washing  to  help  pay  the  family 
expenses.  This,  at  least,  was  the  general  opinion, 
though  Rienzi,  in  a  letter  to  the  Emperor  Charles  IV., 
states  that  he  was  the  natural  son  of  the  Emperor 
Henry  VII.,  who,  hiding  from  some  enemies,  took 
refuge  in  his  father's  inn  and  there  had  a  liaison  with 
his  mother.  Rienzi,  however,  was  often  untruthful, 
and  always  very  imaginative.  He  was  a  handsome 
man  of  rather  feminine  complexion,  unfathomable 
eyes,  and  one  of  the  most  charming  voices  man  ever 
possessed.  It  was  to  its  silver  tones  he  owed  much  of 
his  success.  He  was  well  educated  by  a  relative  who 
was  a  priest,  and  was  especially  well  versed  in  the 
classic  Roman  writers  and  in  the  Bible,  which  he 
always  most  extensively  quoted. 

When  he  became  a  man,  Rome  really  had  no  gov- 
ernment, for  both  popes  and  Caisars  had  abandoned 

49 


50   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

her.  There  were  sometimes  senators  and  sometimes 
legates,  but  they  were  generally  puppets  in  the  hands 
of  the  great  barons,  Colonnas,  Orsinis,  Savellis,  Frangi- 
panis,  etc.,  who  had  partitioned  out  the  city  among 
themselves.  The  population  had  actually  dwindled 
down  to  thirty  thousand  souls.  Rienzi  at  twenty- 
eight  was  well  known  in  Rome.  He  was  a  notary  to 
the  Roman  tribunals,  and  so  kind  and  attentive  was 
he  that  he  was  called  the  consul  of  the  orphans.  His 
brother  was  killed  accidentally  by  a  Roman  baron, 
and  that  served  to  set  him  against  the  nobles,  so  that 
henceforth  he  spent  his  time  in  inflaming  the  passions 
of  the  populace  by  describing  to  them,  in  burning 
words  or  by  using  the  allegorical  pictures  so  common 
at  that  time,  the  virtues  of  the  ancient  Romans  and 
the  power  and  splendor  of  ancient  Rome.  He  was 
sent  as  a  deputy  to  Clement  VI.  to  induce  him  to  come 
back  to  Rome  and  to  request  a  new  jubilee.  His  mellif- 
luous tongue  pleased  the  Pope,  and  he  was  sent  back 
home,  some  say  as  papal  notary,  others  as  apostolic 
vicar.  Cardinal  Aymeric  being  joined  with  him  as 
papal  legate  and  a  Colonna  and  an  Orsini  named 
senators.  He  came  back  from  Avignon  full  of  en- 
thusiasm and  loyalty  to  the  Pope,  but  he  soon  saw 
that  there  was  no  change  for  the  better.  The  legate 
was  after  money  only,  and  the  nobles  went  on  fight- 
ing and  pillaging.  Then  he  commenced  again  to 
gather  the  people  together,  and  by  word  and  by 
picture  brace  them  up  to  assume  the  authority  which 
he  taught  them  had  belonged  to  them  in  the  old 
time. 

Finally  he  convoked  the  people  in  a  mass-meeting 


The  ''Good  Estate:'  51 

at  the  Capitol  on  the  20th  of  May,  1347.  He  invited 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  on  the 
Spirit's  festival,  Whitsunday.  The  constant  reference 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  all  Rienzi's  acts  shows  that  he 
was  imbued  with  the  teachings  of  the  Spiritual  Fran- 
ciscans, for  the  constant  indv/elling  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  one  of  their  principal  tenets.  On  the  day  ap- 
pointed he  stood  in  full  armor  on  the  steps  of  the 
Capitol,  having  heard  since  midnight  thirty  masses  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  read  to  an  immense  concourse  a 
summary  of  reforms  which  was  certainly  well  calcu- 
lated to  enlist  the  sympathy  and  the  aid  of  all  who 
listened. 

These  reforms  were  to  produce  the  "  Good  Estate  " 
(//  buon  stato).  Every  homicide  was  to  be  condemned 
to  death  without  the  slightest  delay ;  the  old  classic 
ruins  were  to  be  repaired ;  a  civic  guard  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  was  to  be  established  in  each 
quarter;  every  noble  was  to  give  up  his  fortified 
castle  to  the  people ;  the  tax  on  .salt  and  the  harbor 
and  river  duties  to  go  to  the  municipality  instead  of 
the  Pope,  and  to  be  used  for  city  improvements ;  the 
keeping  of  the  roads  to  be  the  duty  of  the  barons; 
public  granaries  to  be  built ;  pensions  for  soldiers  and 
for  their  widows  and  orphans  to  be  arranged. 

He  chose  for  himself  the  title  of "  Tribune,"  and  with 
great  wisdom  he  requested  that  the  Pope's  vicar,  the 
Bishop  of  Orvieto,  might  be  joined  with  him  as  an 
equal  head  of  the  government.  This  scheme  took 
like  wild-fire.  The  senators  were  expelled  and  the 
new  oflficers  installed  in  the  Capitol  with  such  rapidity 
that  Rienzi  might  well  say  the  Holy  Spirit  had  aided 


52    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

him.  Stephen,  the  head  of  the  Colonnas,  laughed  all 
this  to  scorn,  and  replied  to  a  message  from  Rienzi 
that  he  expected  to  come  over  soon  and  throw  him 
out  of  one  of  the  windows  of  the  Capitol.  The  popu- 
lace flew  to  arms  and  drove  out  old  Colonna  without 
any  ceremony,  and  soon  he  and  all  the  other  barons 
were  forced  to  appear  and  swear  fealty  to  the  Roman 
people.  Two  medals  are  extant  at  Rome  which  were 
struck  at  this  time;  on  one  side  is  "Roma  Caput 
Mundi,"  and  on  the  other  "  Nicolas,  Tribunus,  Au- 
gustus." Everywhere  now  in  the  city  formerly  so 
fractious,  peace  and  harmony  prevailed.  The  nobles 
were  overawed ;  the  husbandman  could  till  his  fields  in 
security ;  the  roads  were  safe,  the  taxes  light — too 
Hght,  indeed,  and  this  was  a  fatal  weakness.  Em- 
bassies came  not  only  from  the  Italian  republics,  but 
from  foreign  sovereigns,  and  all  over  Christian  Europe 
flew  the  news  that  a  new,  republican.  Christian  Rome 
was  rising  like  the  sun  (Rienzi's  crest)  over  the  world. 
The  Pope  was  favorable,  the  Kaiser  was  silent. 

This  moment  was  the  brightest  in  Rienzi's  career. 
If  he  had  exercised  common  prudence  it  seems  as  if 
he  really  might  have  brought  about  what  it  took  so 
many  centuries  of  blood  and  suffering  to  effect — the 
union  of  Italy.  It  was  in  his  mind,  and  he  attempted 
to  realize  it.  There  went  forth  from  him  to  all  the 
princes  and  cities  of  Italy  messengers  with  silver 
wands,  convoking  them  to  a  congress  the  object  of 
which  was  to  be  the  union  and  pacification  of  the 
peninsula.  All  but  one  promised  to  come,  and  that 
one  yielded  to  the  presence  of  an  armed  force. 

This  success  seemed  to  have  turned  Rienzi's  head. 


Strange  Conduct  of  Rienzi.  53 

for  then  commenced  those  extravagant  and  theatric 
performances  which  showed  that  he  had  lost  his  bal- 
ance. The  splendid  processions,  the  gorgeous  dresses, 
the  institution  of  the  knighthood  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  bathing  in  Constantine's  font,  may  all  be  ascribed 
to  the  tribune's  conviction  that  pomp  and  show  were 
necessary  to  impress  an  ignorant  populace  ;  but  noth- 
ing could  have  been  more  imprudent  than  his  procla- 
mation that,  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
choice  of  an  emperor  and  the  domination  of  the  em- 
pire belonged  by  right  to  the  city  of  Rome  and  to 
Italy,  and  that  all  electors,  counts,  princes,  etc.,  who 
pretended  to  power  in  the  empire  were  summoned  to 
appear  before  him,  or  be  proceeded  against  as  rebels. 
This  totally  ignored  the  authority  of  the  Pope  in  his 
own  city,  and  really  seems  too  insane  to  have  been 
tolerated  by  even  an  excited  people.  Their  attention, 
however,  was  absorbed  in  a  banquet  free  to  all,  where 
Rienzi  sat,  with  a  golden  crown  on  his  head  and  the 
Pope's  vicar  by  his  side,  at  a  table  reserved  always 
for  the  Pope. 

A  few  days  after  a  messenger  from  the  Pope  at- 
tempted to  recall  him  to  his  senses  and  warn  him 
that  his  sovereign  and  pontiff  would  not  allow  such 
extravagances.  His  only  answer  was  another  theat- 
rical and  allegorical  display,  costly  and  extravagant 
beyond  measure,  and  the  putting  forth  of  new  laws 
interdicting  to  every  foreign  prince  the  entrance  into 
Italy.  He  now  had  a  crown  made  for  himself  like 
the  one  the  ancient  Caesars  wore,  and  even  compared 
himself  to  Jesus  Christ,  which  shows  the  inherent 
weakness  and  vanity  of  the  man.     Then  came  an- 


54   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

other  piece  of  almost  criminal  madness  on  his  part. 
He  invited  the  great  nobles  to  a  supper,  and  sud- 
denly at  a  signal  from  him  his  soldiery  entered  the 
room  and  haled  them  all  to  prison,  where  priests 
were  in  readiness  to  prepare  them  for  death.  Then 
Rienzi  mounted  a  tribune,  ostentatiously  forgave 
them,  loaded  them  with  distinctions,  and  tribune  and 
nobles  took  the  sacrament  together. 

This  was  mere  folly  and  child's  play,  and  infuriated 
the  nobles  greatly,  who  sent  a  strong  embassy  to  the 
Pope  to  beg  him  to  put  down  this  masquerader,  for 
such  he  had  become.  The  Pope  despatched  Cardinal 
de  Deux  to  Rome  with  full  powers,  spiritual  and 
temporal,  to  proceed  against  the  tribune.  Rienzi  was 
confident,  however,  that  the  people  would  support 
him,  and  on  his  call  twenty  thousand  flocked  to  his 
banner  and  completely  routed  the  army  of  the  nobles. 
He  returned  to  Rome  in  imperial  armor,  the  im- 
perial crown  on  his  head  and  the  sceptre  in  his  hand, 
and,  calling  the  legate  to  him,  asked  him  what  he 
wanted.  The  astonished  cardinal  had  hardly  time  to 
reply  before  he  was  ordered  out  of  the  city,  and  then 
came  another  wild  decree,  ordering  the  Pope  and  all 
other  Romans  back  to  Rome.  Another  manifesto 
summoned  deputies  from  all  Italy  to  meet  at  Rome 
on  the  next  Whitsunday  to  elect  an  emperor  who  was 
to  be  an  Italian. 

Rienzi  sets  forth  in  this  paper  ideas  which  in  our 
day  have  been  realized — the  separation  of  the  tem- 
poral and  the  spiritual  authority,  the  unification  of 
Italy  under  an  Italian  king,  and  the  division  of  the  land 
into  constitutional  provinces ;  but  the  follies,  extrav- 


Rienzi's  Plight.  55 

agances,  and  treacheries  of  Rienzi  had  made  the  Ital- 
ian world  so  distrustful  of  him  that  the  message  fell 
flat.  The  legate  now  excommunicated  Rienzi,  and, 
awed  by  that,  the  Roman  people  turned  against  him. 
He  then  took  the  unmanly  step  of  annulling  all  his 
previous  decrees  and  promising  to  obey  the  Pope. 
But  this  had  no  effect  on  the  excited  populace,  and 
"  Death  to  the  tribune!"  was  the  cry  that  fell  upon 
the  frightened  ears  of  Rienzi.  The  bell  of  the  Capitol 
called  the  people  to  arms,  and  the  tribune  tried  to 
soothe  them  with  the  magic  of  his  eloquence,  but  all 
in  vain.  The  gates  of  the  city  were  thrown  open  to 
the  nobles,  and  Rienzi  and  his  wife  took  refuge  in  St. 
Angelo  ;  but  he  feared  that  sooner  or  later  some  one 
would  give  him  up  to  the  legate,  and  in  January, 
1 348,  he  fled  away. 

It  was  not  the  excommunication  alone  that  caused 
his  fall,  but  his  own  erratic,  puerile,  mystical  course. 
He  could  not  be  relied  upon,  and  men  came  to  know 
it.  It  would  not  be  possible  here  to  follow  the  wan- 
derings of  Rienzi  over  the  face  of  Europe.  He  took 
refuge  for  a  while  with  the  Spiritual  Franciscans  in  a 
lonely  convent  in  the  Apennines.  He  went  back  in 
disguise  to  Rome  during  the  jubilee  year  and  tried 
to  stir  up  a  revolution  against  the  legate,  but  the 
Romans  had  too  keen  an  eye  to  the  profits  they  were 
reaping  from  the  crowd  of  strangers  to  do  anything 
to  disturb  matters. 

.  Then  we  find  him  at  Prague  at  the  feet  of  Charles 
IV.,  who  listened  calmly  to  his  chimerical  harangues, 
in  one  of  which  he  said  that  the  Pope,  the  emperor, 
and  Rienzi  would  give  to  the  world  the  image  of  the 


56    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Holy  Trinity.  The  correspondence  between  Rienzi 
and  the  emperor  has  been  published  by  Papencordt, 
and  shows  that  the  sovereign  had  no  mean  opinion  of 
the  tribune's  talents.  The  epilepsy  to  which  Rienzi 
had  for  many  years  been  subject  now  became  more 
violent  in  its  attacks,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Prague 
took  care  of  him  in  the  kindest  manner.  He  per- 
suaded him  to  go  to  Avignon  and  submit  himself 
entirely  to  the  Pope  (135 1).  He  did  go  there,  and 
was  thrown  immediately  into  prison.  The  prison- 
cell  is  to  this  day  shown  in  the  papal  palace. 

Then  he  was  tried  for  heresy  and  condemned  to 
die;  but  the  people  of  Avignon  could  not  bear  to 
see  so  brilliant  a  scholar  and  distinguished  a  man 
brought  to  the  block,  and  they  surrounded  the  papal 
palace  with  such  riotous  manifestations  that  the  Pope 
yielded,  spared  the  tribune's  life,  and  ordered  his 
prison  discipline  to  be  greatly  ameliorated.  Books 
were  given  him,  especially  the  Bible  and  Livy,  the 
two  he  most  highly  prized,  and  his  food  was  sent  him 
from  the  papal  kitchen.  It  was  then  he  commenced 
to  fall  into  those  habits  of  intemperance  which  achieved 
his  f\ill  ruin. 

As  if  his  checkered  life  had  not  been  dramatic 
enough,  another  exciting  act  had  to  be  played  out 
before  its  close.  The  state  of  Rome  was  worse  than 
before  Rienzi  left  it.  Fightings  and  ruins  every- 
where prevailed,  and  the  new  Pope,  Innocent  VI., 
was  resolved  to  take  some  strong  measures.  He 
determined  to  send  Cardinal  Albornoz,  a  warlike 
prelate  who  had  served  successfully  in  Spain  against 
the  Moors,  and  knowing  how  popular  Rienzi  had 


Death  of  Rienzi.  57 

once  been  with  the  Roman  people  and  how  persua- 
sive he  was,  he  sent  him  with  the  cardinal.  So  the 
two  set  out  (1353),  but  Rienzi  was  too  observant  not 
to  find  out  very  soon  that  he  was  to  be  only  the  cat's- 
paw  of  the  cardinal,  and  he  resolved  to  act  on  his 
own  responsibility.  The  cardinal  would  gladly  have 
put  him  out  of  the  way  if  he  had  dared,  but  the 
tribune  seemed  too  powerful.  He  gave  Rienzi  the 
title  of  "  Senator,"  and  Rome  welcomed  back  her 
senator  and  tribune  with  shouts  of  joy.  Gorgeously 
attired,  and  mounted  on  a  snow-white  horse,  he  rode 
to  the  Capitol  and  addressed  the  people,  and  for  a 
time  it  seemed  as  if  all  his  old  power  and  influence 
had  returned;  but  his  intemperate  habits  had  marred 
his  eloquent  voice  and  clouded  his  intellect.  He 
showed  himself  cruel,  heartless,  and  crafty,  and  con- 
demned to  death  any  who  made  the  least  resistance. 
The  legate  soon  saw  that  Rienzi  would  hang  himself 
if  rope  enough  was  given,  and  he  waited  quietly  at 
Montefiascone.  He  did  not  have  long  to  wait.  On 
the  8th  of  October,  1354,  a  furious  mob  attacked  the 
Capitol  and  demanded  the  senator's  head.  He  tried 
to  calm  them,  but  in  vain ;  and,  fleeing  to  a  remote 
corner  of  the  palace,  he  disguised  himself  as  a  com- 
mon porter,  and,  taking  up  a  load,  was  passing  out, 
when  a  man  called  out,  "  Stop  Rienzi ! "  and  soon  his 
blood  stained  the  marble  lion  where  he  had  ordered 
so  many  to  be  executed.  For  three  days  his  poor 
body  was  exposed  to  every  outrage,  and  was  then 
buried  by  the  Jews.  His  second  ruin  has  been  at- 
tributed to  the  unpopular  tax  on  salt  which  he  estab- 
lished, but  the  Romans  had  been  taxed  for  salt  before. 


58    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

His  ruin  was  the  direct  outcome  of  his  tyranny  and 
cruelty,  and,  more  than  all,  his  unjust  execution  of 
Pandolfo  di  Guido,  a  man  universally  beloved.  And 
so  fell  Rienzi,  his  character  a  singular  mixture  of 
imagination,  credulity,  courage,  noble  aspirations, 
sensual  excesses,  and  at  last  the  evil  qualities  which 
flow  from  such  excesses — heartlessness,  injustice,  and 
utter  selfishness. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   BLACK   DEATH — THE   FLAGELLANTS — THE 
JEWS. 


HE  world  has  been  afflicted  with  many 
pestilences,  which  carried  off  vast  num- 
bers of  people.  We  have  suffered  from 
them  in  modern  times,  and  have  to  be 
constantly  on  our  guard  against  them 
now.  The  faintest  rumor  of  a  pestilence  in  Arabia 
or  in  China  arouses  immediate  attention  at  e\ery 
European  seaport,  and  measures  are  taken  to  prevent 
the  bringing  in  of  the  infection.  But  in  the  whole 
dreadful  history  of  pestilence  there  is  nothing  that 
will  for  a  moment  compare  with  the  ravages  of  the 
Black  Death  in  the  pontificate  of  Clement  VI.,  and 
which  was  at  its  height  from  1347  to  1350.  The 
distinguished  German  physician  Hecker  has  given 
us  the  most  systematic  account  of  this  horrible  visi- 
tation, and  it  is  in  his  treatise  that  those  who  would 
thoroughly  investigate  it  will  find  the  most  reliable 
material.  It  is  with  justice  supposed  that  twenty- 
five  millions  of  souls  perished  in  it,  and  in  England 
alone  the  population  was  reduced  by  a  half,  perhaps 
by  two  thirds.    Seeboken,  who  has  gone  into  minute 

S9 


6o   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

estimates,  shows  from  English  records  that  this  is  no 
mere  guesswork,  but  based  on  awful  facts. 

It  had  its  origin  in  China,  where,  in  1334,  the 
Chinese  records  say,  five  million  persons  died  of  it. 
From  China  it  came  by  the  caravans  through  central 
Asia  to  Tunis.  Ships  carried  it  thence  to  Constanti- 
nople, then  the  capital  of  commerce,  and  it  was  easy 
for  ships  to  spread  it  from  that  point  through  Asia, 
Europe,  and  Africa.  Everywhere  it  found  all  things 
swept  and  garnished  for  it,  for  sanitation  was  un- 
known, the  habits  of  the  populace  filthy,  the  laws  of 
contagion  scarcely  outlined  even,  except  by  a  few  of 
the  learned.  Ignorance  and  superstition  were  its 
chosen  handmaids.  Hecker  considers  that  an  assem- 
blage of  cosmical  disturbances  and  physical  changes 
happening  at  the  time  of  the  Black  Death  accounts 
for  it,  such  as  numerous  earthquakes,  deluges,  fam- 
ines; but  his  conclusions  seem  very  unscientific,  and 
modern  investigation  would  consider  the  filth  in  which 
it  was  engendered  and  the  filth  it  everywhere  met  as 
amply  sufficient  cause  for  its  terrific  ravages. 

One  curious  fact  is  mentioned  by  all  contemporary 
writers  and  is  borne  out  by  modern  experience,  and 
that  is  of  a  thick,  evil-smelling  mist,  which,  advancing 
from  the  East,  spread  over  Italy,  infecting  the  air  of 
the  sea  as  well  as  the  land,  so  that  many  vessels  were 
found  drifting  about  the  ocean  without  a  living  man 
on  board;  all  had  suddenly  perished.  A  similar 
mist  spread  over  Chicago  at  the  last  visitation  of 
cholera,  and  for  the  two  days  it  prevailed  the  mortal- 
ity rose  from  fifteen  a  day  to  over  one  hundred,  sub- 
siding when  the  air  cleared.     Boccaccio,  in  the  "  De- 


SyvLptoms  of  the  Black  DcalJi.  6i 

camerone,"  gives  us  the  most  vivid  picture  extant  of 
the  destruction  wrought  in  Florence  by  this  fell  mal- 
ady, for  it  numbered  sixty  thousand  victims  in  that 
fair  city.  He  says  it  commenced  with  tumors  in  the 
groin  and  the  armpits  about  the  size  of  an  ^%^.  Then 
came  tumors  all  over  the  body,  with  black-and-blue 
spots  on  the  arms  and  thighs.  No  medicine  brought 
relief,  and  nearly  all  attacked  died  within  the  first 
three  days,  and  without  fever.  Animals  were  also 
affected  by  the  contagion.  Boccaccio  saw  two  hogs 
rooting  among  the  rags  of  a  beggar  who  had  died  of 
the  Black  Death,  and  suddenly  they  fell  over  and 
died.  Other  writers  mention  fever  and  spitting  of 
blood  as  accompanying  it.  In  Avignon  it  raged  with 
fury,  counting  sixty  thousand  victims  in  that  one 
town,  and  the  Pope  consecrated  the  river  Rhone  so 
that  bodies  might  be  thrown  in,  as  it  was  hard  to  find 
persons  to  bury  the  dead.  Clement  showed  the 
greatest  kindness  and  wisdom  in  his  instructions  and 
regulations,  and  in  the  fierce  hate  against  the  Jews, 
not  only  there,  but  in  all  parts  of  Europe  (an  ignorant 
populace  and  a  bigoted  clergy  accusing  them  of  be- 
ing the  authors  of  the  plague),  he  protected  them,  and 
whenever  he  had  power  forbade  their  arrest  and  tor- 
ture. Even  the  cold  of  Iceland  and  Greenland  did 
not  protect  those  countries;  vast  proportions  of  their 
people  were  carried  off.  England  suffered  cruelly. 
In  London  alone  one  hundred  thousand  perished,  and 
about  two  millions  in  the  whole  realm. 

This  led  to  very  important  economic  results.  The 
price  of  land  was  greatly  lowered,  so  manj-  estates 
being  thrown  into  the  market  by  death,  and  the  price 


62    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 


of  labor  was  greatly  heightened,  there  being  so  few 
to  till  the  land.  The  laborers  of  England  combined 
in  what  may  be  called  the  first  "  strike  "  in  order  to 
get  their  pay  increased,  and  it  was  this  movement 
which  led  within  the  next  half-century  to  the  cessa- 
tion of  serfage  in  England.  The  moral  effects  of  this 
frightful  calamity  were,  on  the  whole,  deplorable. 
Some,  indeed,  it  brought  to  penitence  and  a  better 
life,  but  it  engendered  great  selfishness,  and  with 
many  great  recklessness  of  conduct.  The  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  the  "  Decamerone "  are  an  example. 
There  they  sit  amid  the  flowers,  feasting  and  idling 
and  telling  loose  stories,  while  their  fellow-citizens 
are  dying  hke  sheep.  Even  the  parish  priests  fled 
from  their  cures,  or  shut  themselves  up  and  refused 
to  console  or  to  bury  their  people. 

The  orders  of  begging  friars  were  alone  indefatiga- 
ble in  the  sacred  work  of  alleviating  and  soothing  the 
suffering,  and  their  devotion  won  them  universal  love, 
so  that  men  vied  with  one  another  in  heaping  upon 
them  gifts  and  legacies.  When  this  angel  of  terror 
had  passed  over,  Europe  awoke  as  from  a  stupor; 
everywhere  empty  houses,  desolate  families,  and 
bitter  mourning.  There  were  vast  crowds  of  widows 
and  orphans,  and  many  years  passed  before  the  sad 
recollections  of  those  awful  years  could  be  effaced 
from  the  memories  of  men. 

Usually  in  great  calamities  fanatics  and  cranks  are 
engendered  or  come  to  the  surface,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  ravages  of  the  Black  Death  there  appeared  a 
strange  religious  phenomenon,  which  had  been  seen 
before  and  which  can  be  seen  to  this  day,  the  Flagel- 


Characteristics  of  the  Flagellants.       63 

lants,  as  they  were  called ;  a  body  of  people  of  both 
sexes  and  all  ages,  who  as  a  mark  of  penance  went 
about  in  public  flogging  themselves.  This  mode  of  pen- 
ance did  not  originate  at  this  time.  As  far  back  as  the 
eleventh  century  many  believers  in  Asia  and  in  south- 
ern Europe  afHicted  themsehes  in  this  way.  It  has 
never  ceased  in  convents  and  in  individual  cases,  and 
even  at  this  day  and  in  this  century  of  light,  public 
processions  of  men  lashing  themselves  until  the  blood 
flows  from  their  wounds,  and  walking  over  beds  of 
the  prickly-pear,  may  be  seen  in  some  of  the  interior 
towns  of  Mexico.  The  outbreak  of  this  singular 
mania  in  connection  with  the  Black  Death  began  in 
Hungary  in  1349,  and  soon  spread  over  Germany, 
where  they  were  also  called  the  "cross-bearers." 
Their  avowed  object  was  to  do  penance  for  their  own 
sins  and  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  other  people,  and 
they  joined  to  their  flagellations  prayers  for  the  stay- 
ing of  the  plague.  The  participants  were  at  first  con- 
fined to  persons  of  the  lower  class,  many  sincerely 
penitent,  and  many  attracted  by  the  life  of  idleness. 
The  infatuation,  however,  soon  seized  the  nobles  and 
clergy,  and  very  often  honorable  women  and  nuns 
were  found  among  the  number. 

They  marched  through  the  cities  in  well-organized 
processions,  the  lower  part  of  the  face  masked,  draped 
in  black,  with  red  crosses  on  the  front  and  back  of 
the  tunic  and  on  the  black  cap.  Each  one  carried  a 
scourge  of  three  knotted  cords,  tipped  with  iron. 
Splendid  banners  and  blazing  torches  were  borne  in 
their  midst,  and  with  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the 
singing   of   exciting    hymns  they    marched   to    the 


64    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

designated  place  of  scourging.  There  they  stripped 
the  upper  part  of  their  bodies  and  put  off  their  shoes. 
Then  they  lay  down  in  a  large  circle,  in  different 
positions,  according  to  their  sin,  and  the  master  then 
castigated  them,  some  more,  some  less.  Then  they 
arose  and  flogged  themselves,  singing  aloud  psalms, 
of  which  some  are  still  extant. 

It  can  easily  be  imagined  what  an  effect  this  had 
upon  an  ignorant  and  credulous  people.  The  parish 
priests  were  entirely  deserted  for  these  new-comers, 
and  they  came  in  such  numbers  that  they  could  take 
possession  of  any  church  they  fancied  and  hold  their 
meetings  there.  They  sometimes  pretended  to  be  able 
to  work  miracles,  as  in  Strasburg,  where  they  tried 
in  vain  to  bring  to  life  a  dead  child.  They  gave  out 
that  their  pilgrimage  would  continue  for  thirty-four 
years.  At  this  not  only  the  church  became  alarmed, 
but  society  everywhere  turned  against  them,  for  they 
rapidly  degenerated,  and  thieving  and  violence  fol- 
lowed their  footsteps.  Pope  Clement,  who  in  the 
whole  matter  of  the  pestilence  and  the  Flagellants 
acted  with  great  wisdom,  issued,  in  conjunction  with 
the  emperor,  strict  orders  that  the  public  processions 
should  stop,  and  everywhere  the  sovereigns  used 
against  them  the  severest  measures.  Gradually  they 
dwindled  away,  though  of  course  the  crowds  had 
greatly  increased  the  plague,  and  the  gloomy  exer- 
cises had  tended  to  deepen  still  further  the  wretched- 
ness and  despondency  of  the  people. 

During  the  prevalence  of  the  Black  Death  the  Jews 
suffered  horribly,  for  everywhere,  and  without  the 
slightest  reason,  they  were  accused  of  having  poisoned 


Persecution  of  llie  Jews.  65 


the  wells  and  the  air.  They  often  under  torture 
confessed  to  having  done  so,  but  confession  elicited 
under  torture  is  worthless,  for  almost  any  required 
answer  may  be  obtained  under  the  rack.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  to  comprehend  the  panic  every- 
where in  Europe  about  poisoned  wells.  Nobody 
would  use  anything  but  river  and  rain  water,  and 
everywhere  men  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  destroy 
all  Jews.  Even  some  of  the  higher  clergy  counte- 
nanced this  dreadful  resolve.  In  Mayence  alone 
twelve  thousand  Jews  are  said  to  have  been  put  to  a 
cruel  death.  These  utterly  unjust  attacks  aroused 
the  Jews  to  great  fanaticism,  and  at  Esslingen  the 
whole  Jewish  community  collected  in  the  synagogue 
and  deliberately  set  it  on  fire,  all  willingly  perishing 
rather  than  submit  to  baptism. 

Pope  Clement  protected  them  in  Avignon,  and 
issued  two  bulls,  in  which  he  declared  the  Jews  inno- 
cent of  any  attempt  to  spread  the  plague;  but  his 
words  were  as  idle  dreams  against  the  fury  of  the 
fanaticism.  The  King  of  Poland,  Casimir  (1333- 
70),  also  protected  them,  and  opened  his  dominions 
to  thousands  of  Jewish  fugitives.  It  was  in  this  way 
that  Poland  came  to  number  so  many  Jews  among 
its  people — Jews  of  a  very  fanatic  and  retrograde 
type.  This  dreadful  visitation  of  the  plague  seemed 
to  steel  the  hearts  of  men.  They  became  cruel  and 
merciless,  not  only  to  Jews,  but  to  their  own  sick, 
and  everywhere  the  influence  and  authority  of  every 
law,  human  and  divine,  vanished  away. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  JUBILEE   OF   1350 — DEATH   OF   CLEMENT — IN- 
NOCENT VI. 

HE  jubilee  of  1350  brought  out  an  aston- 
ishing display  of  fervent  devotion  and 
unreasoning  faith.  Doubtless  the  terri- 
ble pestilence  we  have  just  described  had 
done  much  in  inclining  the  hearts  of  the 
people  towards  a  better  life,  and,  according  to  the  ideas 
of  those  times,  no  better  way  could  be  found  for 
gaining  the  grace  and  pardon  of  God  than  by  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  capital  of  Christianity  and  the  tomb 
of  its  chief  apostle.  Reliable  historians  estimate  the 
number  of  visitors  between  Christmas  and  Easter  at 
about  a  million,  and  between  Ascension  and  Whit- 
suntide at  half  a  million. 

Even  granting  the  loose  estimate  of  numbers  so 
common  then,  the  crowd  was  prodigious,  and  the 
streets  leading  to  the  principal  churches  were  so 
crowded  that  only  by  a  slow  movement  could  any 
progress  be  made,  and  many  were  crushed  to  death. 
No  one  suffered  from  any  want  of  accommodations, 
though,  as  was  to  be  expected,  the  prices  ran  high. 
Enormous  sums,  of  course,  were  paid  into  the  papal 
treasury,  but  Clement  did  not  survive  long  to  enjoy 

66 


Clemefit's  Defence  of  the  Friars.  67 


his  wealth,  for  on  the  6th  of  December,  1352,  he  died 
from  a  tumor.  His  last  important  act  redeems  his 
character,  in  our  estimation,  from  that  of  a  mere 
pleasure-loving  worldling,  and  shows  that  he  could 
rise  to  the  level  of  his  lofty  place. 

The  begging  friars  had  shown  such  devotion  and 
self-sacrifice  during  the  Black  Death  that  nearly  every- 
thing men  wished  to  leave  to  the  church  was  left  to 
them.  This  made  the  secular  clergy  very  jealous, 
and  they  thronged  to  Avignon  demanding  the  sup- 
pression of  the  friars.  Clement  rose  in  his  place  and 
defended  them  with  generous  eloquence.  "  Suppose," 
he  said,  "  the  friars  were  to  stop  preaching.  What 
would  you  preach?  Humility?  You,  proudest  of 
all  conditions  of  men?  Poverty?  You  who  are  so 
greedy  that  all  the  benefices  on  earth  are  not  enough 
for  you  ?  Chastity  ?  I  am  silent.  God  alone  knows 
how  your  bodies  are  pampered.  The  friars  well  de- 
serve any  benefits  they  have  reaped  from  legacies. 
It  is  a  fit  reward  of  their  courage  and  their  zeal,  and 
you  are  opposing  them  not  from  principle,  but  out  of 
sheer  envy." 

Just  before  Clement  died  he  made  a  law  which 
made  the  condition  of  the  cardinals  shut  in  to  elect  a 
Pope  much  more  comfortable.  Each  one  now  was 
to  have  a  little  chamber  curtained  off  from  the  great 
hall,  so  that  he  could  have  some  privacy.  He  was  to 
be  allowed  two  attendants,  and  after  the  third  day  a 
more  generous  allowance  of  food  was  provided  than 
had  been  the  former  custom.  Under  these  conditions 
the  college  met.  Their  first  idea  was  to  elect  the 
General  of  the  Carthusians,  not  a  cardinal ;  but  they 


68    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

recollected  that  he,  a  foe  to  luxury,  would  oblige  them 
to  give  up  the  splendor  and  luxury  in  which  they 
lived,  so  they  turned  their  attention  in  another  direc- 
tion. Before  proceeding  to  the  election,  they  passed  a 
law  which,  if  they  had  been  able  to  carry  it  out,  would 
have  made  all  future  popes  the  mere  tools  of  the 
college  of  cardinals.  There  were  never  to  be  more 
than  twenty  cardinals,  and  no  new  ones  could  be 
made  until  the  present  number  sank  to  sixteen.  No 
cardinal  could  be  created  or  deprived  without  the 
consent  of  the  whole  body,  and  half  the  revenues  of 
the  papal  see  were  to  be  turned  over  to  them.  They 
all  took  an  oath  to  observe  the  law,  but  many  quali- 
fied the  oath  by  the  words,  "  Unless  it  should  prove 
contrary  to  papal  law." 

They  then  proceeded  to  the  vote,  and  on  the  i8th 
of  December,  1352,  Stephen  Aubert,  Bishop  of  Ostia, 
was  chosen,  who  took  the  name  of  Innocent  VI.  The 
first  thing  he  did  was  to  repudiate  his  oath,  declaring 
that  it  was  contrary  to  the  power  of  St.  Peter,  which 
no  cardinals  could  limit.  Nobody  opposed  this,  for 
every  man  felt  that  he  would  have  done  exactly  the 
same  thing  if  he  had  been  chosen. 

Innocent  was  a  great  improvement  on  any  of  the 
former  Avignon  popes.  His  morals  seem  to  have 
been  good,  and  he  was  a  man  of  force  and  learning. 
He  knew  how  to  rule  and  he  ruled  wisely.  He 
favored  his  family,  as  was  natural,  but  only  when 
they  were  competent  for  office.  He  cleansed  the 
papal  court  of  the  immense  crowd  of  idle  bishops  and 
parish  priests  who  left  their  cures  to  be  ravaged  by 
the  devil  while  they  revelled  in  the  luxury  of  Avignon. 


Cardinal  Albornoz  at  Rome.  69 


He  forced  the  cardinals  to  live  in  greater  simplicity, 
and  exerted  himself  to  put  down  one  of  the  most 
tremendous  vices  of  that  time,  pluralities,  one  man 
often  holding  seven  or  eight  benefices  in  different 
parts  of  Europe.  Although  virtually  in  France,  he 
was  perfectly  independent  of  the  French  king,  and 
his  strong  arm  was  felt  in  church  and  state  through- 
out the  Western  world.  Two  great  things  were  ac- 
complished during  his  wise  pontificate  of  ten  years, 
the  recovery  of  the  papal  possessions  in  Italy,  and  the 
settlement  of  that  unending  cause  of  dispute,  the 
election  of  the  emperor. 

After  the  fall  of  Rienzi  for  the  second  time,  as  has 
been  related,  the  papal  legate,  Cardinal  Albornoz, 
turned  his  attention  to  the  pacification  of  Italy.  He 
was  stern  and  cruel,  but,  oddly  as  it  sounds  in  speaking 
of  a  cardinal,  perfectly  competent  to  command  an  army 
and  to  conquer.  Steadily  he  attacked  one  recalcitrant 
province  after  another,  and  within  three  or  four  years 
recovered  Bologna  and  the  whole  Romagna  for  the 
Pope.  The  papal  authority  was  firmly  established 
in  the  city  of  Rome,  and  it  became  once  more  possi- 
ble for  a  Pope  to  think  of  going  back  there  again, 
especially  as  the  distracted  state  of  France  made  it 
impossible  to  rely  much  on  that  secular  arm,  and 
brigands  had  already  appeared  at  the  very  gates  of 
Avignon. 

It  must  always  be  remembered  that  the  popes  did 
not  settle  themselves  at  Avignon  for  pleasure  merely. 
It  was  a  measure  forced  upon  them  by  the  conduct 
of  the  Romans.  If  it  had  not  been  Avignon  it  would 
have  been  some  other  place,  and,  as  things  were, 


/O   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Avignon  was  as  good  a  choice  as  could  have  been 
made.  To  have  remained  in  Rome  would  have  been 
an  intolerable  captivity  for  any  Pope.  Even  of 
Clement  V.  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  was  an  enemy 
of  Italy.  If  the  Italians  had  possessed  any  national 
policy  his  course  would  have  helped  them,  for  his 
absence  would  have  left  them  free  to  follow  their 
natural  destiny,  while  his  presence  forced  Italy  to  be 
everything  to  everybody,  a  sort  of  neutral  ground, 
and,  like  all  forced  neutrals,  weak.  Just  as  soon  as 
it  was  safe  to  go  to  Rome  the  popes  made  an  honest 
attempt  to  go  there.  Their  living  at  Avignon  never 
lessened  one  whit  their  immense  influence  in  Europe. 
The  Papacy  did  not  seem  at  all  bound  up  in  Rome, 
nor  is  it  now,  when  it  does  not  even  possess  Avignon 
or  a  foot  of  land  anywhere.  It  is  evidently  not  tied  to 
any  temporal  power,  great  as  the  cry  ma\'  be.  This 
influence  without  any  territory  is  so  immense  that  not 
a  court  in  Europe  dares  for  a  moment  to  ignore  it  or 
to  insult  it. 

Indeed,  it  must  be  said  in  fairness  that  the  long 
residence  of  the  popes  in  Avignon  had  surrounded 
the  dignity  of  the  Papacy  with  a  lustre  it  had  not  for 
a  long  time  enjoyed.  It  was  cut  loose  from  the 
bondage  of  a  degraded  and  ruined  little  town  like 
Rome.  Above  all,  it  showed  the  world  that  the  city 
of  Rome  was  but  of  small  importance  compared  with 
the  church  of  God.  A  French  writer,  Gayet,  has 
made  an  estimate  that  between  i  lOO  A.D.  and  1304 
the  popes  had  been  exiled  from  Rome  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two  years,  forty  years  in  excess  of  the 
time  they  had  spent  in  that  city.     Viewed  in  that 


Arrangement  of  Electors  for  the  Empire.   71 

light,  "  Babylonish  captivity  "  seems  a  misnomer.  It 
was  a  period  of  unwonted  freedom,  and  the  Pope 
(Gregory  XI.)  who  terminated  it  would  most  prob- 
ably, if  he  had  lived,  have  gone  back  to  Avignon.  The 
consequences  of  his  not  doing  it  helped  to  make  the 
great  schism,  though  that  was  imminent  from  other 
causes.  The  Italians  had  determined  to  have  a  Pope. 
The  Emperor  Charles  IV.,  who  had  succeeded  the 
unlucky  Louis  of  Bavaria,  observed  to  the  letter  the 
contract  he  had  made  with  the  Pope.  He  went  to 
Rome  in  a  quiet  way  with  a  small  train,  was  quietly 
crowned  there  by  the  papal  legate,  and  came  quietly 
away.  The  "golrien  bull  "  which  Charles  published 
attached  the  electoral  dignity  to  certain  fiefs,  seven 
in  all — Bohemia,  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  the  Palatine, 
Mayence,  Treves,  and  Cologne.  Nothing  was  said 
about  the  Pope's  power  to  confirm  the  election,  and 
Innocent  wisely  let  that  question  alone.  In  fact, 
both  he  and  Charles  acted  in  this  matter  with  great 
wisdom  and  forbearance,  and  we  hear  henceforth  not 
so  much  of  emperors  of  Rome  as  of  emperors  of  Ger- 
many. On  the  1 2th  of  September,  1362,  Innocent 
died  and  was  buried  at  Villeneuve,  just  over  the  French 
border,  where  now,  in  the  chapel  of  the  hospital,  can 
be  seen  his  splendid  tomb. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

URBAN    V. — GREGORY  XL— CATHERINE    OF    SIENA. 

WENTY  cardinals  made  up  the  conclave 
which  met  on  October  28,  1362,  to  elect 
a  successor  to  Innocent.  So  full  of  plots 
and  jealousies  and  fears  of  one  another 
were  they  that  they  gave  up  all  idea  of 
electing  one  of  their  own  number,  and  chose  William 
de  Grimoard,  Abbot  of  St.  Victor  in  Marseilles,  not 
even  a  bishop,  who  took  the  name  of  Urban  V.  He 
was  in  Italy  at  the  time,  and  the  cardinals  were  so 
afraid  that  the  Italians  would  keep  him  there  if  they 
knew  he  had  been  elected  Pope  that  they  did  not  tell 
him,  but  sent  for  him  to  come  immediately  to  Avig- 
non. They  would  never  have  chosen  him  if  they 
had  been  aware  that  he  had  said  publicly  at  Florence 
that  he  would  be  willing  to  die  if  he  could  only  see 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter  restored  to  Rome. 

As  far  as  purity  of  character  and  a  religious  and 
holy  life  are  concerned,  he  stands  first  of  all  the 
French  popes,  and  he  labored  hard  and  successfully 
to  reform  his  court  and  put  down  simony.  He 
steadily  refused  to  advance  his  family,  and  spent  the 
vast  sums  which  came  into  his  possession,  not  on  vice 
and  luxury,  but  on  repairing  the  Roman  churches, 

72 


The  Retu7'7i  of  Urban  to  Rome.        73 

building  a  noble  college  at  Montpellier,  and  support- 
ing a  thousand  students  in  the  different  European 
universities.  He  played  rather  a  sharp  trick  on  the 
Abbot  of  St.  Paul  without  the  Walls,  in  Rome.  The 
abbot  offered  him  a  large  sum  of  money  to  make  him 
a  cardinal.  He  took  the  money,  used  it  to  repair  the 
church,  and  left  the  abbot  just  where  he  was  before. 
Of  course  there  was  no  redress,  nor  ought  there  to 
have  been. 

In  April,  1367,  Urban  resolved  to  go  to  Rome. 
The  country  seemed  in  a  quiet  state,  and  a  residence 
there  seemed  possible.  Great  was  the  weeping  and 
wailing  among  the  cardinals,  who  loved  the  fleshpots 
of  Avignon  too  well  to  leave  them  without  a  struggle  ; 
but  as  Urban  had  never  been  a  cardinal,  he  could  not 
enter  very  deeply  into  their  feelings.  They  threat- 
ened they  would  not  go,  but  as  the  Pope  immediately 
commenced  creating  cardinals  who  would  go,  they 
concluded  that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor, 
and  at  last,  with  many  groanings,  all  but  five  set  out 
for  Rome.  The  Pope  had  received  many  letters  on 
the  subject  of  his  return  to  Rome,  among  the  lengthi- 
est and  most  tiresome  of  which  was  one  from  Petrarch. 
He  tries  to  entice  the  cardinals  by  asserting  that  the 
Roman  wines  are  quite  as  good  as  those  of  Provence. 
He  compares  desolate  and  bleeding  Rome  with  fat 
and  fair  Avignon  rolling  in  vice  and  luxury,  and  he 
ends  by  asking  Urban  "  whether,  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, he  would  rather  rise  among  the  famous  sinners 
of  Avignon  than  with  Peter  and  Paul,  Stephen  and 
Lawrence,"  as  if  it  could  possibly  make  any  difference 
to  a  soul  in  what  company  it  rose  from  the  dead! 


74  The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

The  Pope  set  sail  from  Marseilles,  and  a  brilliant 
fleet  of  galleys  formed  his  escort.  After  a  short 
junketing  at  Genoa,  he  landed  at  Corneto  and  kept 
Whitsunday.  Then  he  went  on  to  Viterbo,  where  he 
met  Cardinal  Albornoz,  his  able  legate — but  merely 
met  him,  for  the  cardinal  died  suddenly  a  few  days 
after  his  arrival.  There  was  a  riot  at  Viterbo  while 
the  Pope  was  there,  and  the  cardinals  were  rather 
glad  of  it,  for  they  hoped  it  would  disgust  the  Pope 
with  living  in  Italy,  and  that  he  would  then  and  there 
turn  back.  The  Pope,  however,  stood  firm  and  went 
on  to  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with  fervent  out- 
bursts of  loyalty,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the 
pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.  a  Pope  stood  at  the  altar 
of  St.  Peter's.  Things  looked  forlorn  enough, — 
dilapidation  and  decay  on  all  sides,  and  the  popula- 
tion dwindled  down  to  that  of  a  fourth-  or  fifth-rate 
town, — but  Urban  abated  not  one  iota  of  papal  su- 
premacy. The  emperors  of  the  East  and  West  visited 
Rome  and  held  his  bridle-rein,  much  to  the  exaltation 
of  the  clergy  and  the  disgust  of  the  laymen  who 
dreaded  the  despotism  of  the  spiritual  power. 

There  was  no  suitable  house  for  Urban  in  Rome, 
and  he  fixed  his  residence  at  Montefiascone,  but  ever 
with  him  were  the  murmuring,  groaning  cardinals 
begging  him  to  leave  the  ruins  and  the  barbarism 
and  the  surly  people  and  go  back  to  dear  Avignon. 
Urban  saw  that  he  was  not  equal  to  the  task  of 
facing  the  ever-seditious  Romans.  He  weakened 
and  gave  way,  and,  after  a  short  three  years,  set  sail 
again  for  his  beloved  France  and  the  great  palace  at 
Avignon,  which  had  been  growing  in  size  and  beauty 


Electio7i  of  Gregory  XI.  75 

during  his  absence.  He  returned,  however,  only  to 
die  ;  for  three  months  after  his  return,  on  December  19, 
1370,  he  was  gathered  to  the  long  line  of  his  prede- 
cessors and  sleeps  under  his  marble  tomb  at  Avignon. 
Only  a  few  days  elapsed  between  the  death  of 
Urban  and  the  choice  of  his  successor.  He  was  Peter 
Roger,  who  took  the  name  of  Gregory  XL,  and  had 
been  a  cardinal  since  he  was  eighteen  years  old, 
created  by  his  uncle,  Clement  VI.  Of  course  such 
a  creation  was  outrageous  and  in  violation  of  all 
church  law,  but  in  this  case  it  did  not  have  the  evil 
effect  that  might  have  been  anticipated,  for  the 
young  cardinal  applied  himself  diligently  to  his  studies 
and  his  religious  duties.  He  was  a  man  of  elegant 
manners,  charming  address,  and  blameless  morals. 
His  greatest  fault  was  the  one  into  which  most  popes 
fell,  the  elevation  of  his  family.  Two  women  meddled 
a  great  deal  with  his  affairs,  both  of  whom  have  since 
been  canonized  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  St.  Bridget 
of  Sweden  and  St.  Catherine  of  Siena.  Both  had 
the  same  object  in  view,  the  inducing  the  Pope  to 
return  to  Rome,  and  it  is  not  giving  too  much  credit 
to  St.  Catherine  to  say  that  her  entreaties  finally  per- 
suaded him.  This  remarkable  woman,  whose  influence 
on  her  times  was  so  great,  merits  our  attention.  In 
these  days  of  hypnotic  experiences,  and  when  so 
much  light  has  been  thrown  upon  hysteria,  much 
that  appeared  miraculous  to  her  contemporaries  ap- 
pears very  commonplace  to  us.  She  was  a  hysterical, 
cataleptic  subject,  but  by  no  means  a  weak-minded 
one,  for  her  letters,  which  are  published,  show  great 
vigor  of  intellect  and  much  eloquence  and  force.  They 


76   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

have  been  quoted  with  admiration  by  the  most  cele- 
brated Itahan  critics,  and,  in  fact,  rank  with  Petrarch 
and  Boccaccio  as  ItaHan  classics  of  that  period. 

At  Siena  in  the  hbrary  are  seventy-nine  works  on 
the  subject  of  St.  Catherine,  but  they  all  have  for 
their  basis  a  life  of  her  which  was  written  by  her  con- 
fessor, Raimondo,  and  they  must  be  read  with  many 
grains  of  salt.  It  is  a  melancholy  exhibit  of  what 
made  a  saint  in  those  days,  and  to  us  moderns  seems 
like  the  account  of  a  lunatic  rather  than  of  a  holy  and 
very  distinguished  woman.  At  six  years  of  age  she 
habitually  flogged  herself  for  her  sins.  At  seven  she 
would  watch  a  monk  pass  and  then  run  to  kiss  the 
spot  where  his  foot  had  rested.  At  twelve  she  re- 
fused to  wash  her  face  and  comb  her  hair,  except  at 
rare  intervals,  saying  she  would  make  no  such  sacri- 
fice to  vanity.  She  then  gave  up  all  animal  food,  but 
continued  taking  wine  until  she  was  fifteen.  Finally 
(according  to  her  biographer)  she  gave  up  eating 
altogether  and  lived  without  food  for  many  years. 
Our  Lord  Christ  was  in  the  constant  habit  of  appear- 
ing in  her  cell  and  teaching  her  rehgion.  She  w^as  at 
last  married  to  Him,  and  said  that  she  saw  always 
on  her  finger  the  betrothal  ring  He  placed  there. 
Once  our  Saviour  took  out  her  heart  and  put  His 
own  in  its  place. 

But  the  most  noted  thing  about  her  were  the  stig- 
mata, or  the  marks  of  the  nails  in  her  hands  and  feet, 
in  imitation  of  those  of  the  Lord  on  the  cross.  St. 
Francis  had  hitherto  been  supposed  to  have  a  mo- 
nopoly of  these,  but  when  St.  Catherine  obtained  them 
the  Dominicans  got  even  with  the  Franciscans.     She 


The  Stigmata  of  St.  Catherine.         yy 

had  a  trance,  as  she  very  often  had,  after  receiving 
the  sacrament,  and  when  she  came  out  of  the  trance 
she  said,  "  I  now  have  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the 
crucifixion  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  but  I  have  prayed  Him 
that  they  may  be  internal  only  and  not  visible."  This 
must  not  be  thought  imposture.  The  history  of  hyp- 
notism and  its  kindred  subjects  gives  many  well- 
authenticated  cases  of  such  beliefs,  even  resulting  in 
outward  and  visible  appearances.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  such  signs  as  the  stigmata  could  be  brought  about 
by  hypnotic  influence.  Cases  are  on  record,  and  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  self-hypnotism.  St.  Catherine  was 
able  to  throw  herself  into  a  state  where  the  appear- 
ance of  her  Lord  seemed  to  her  to  be  real,  and  she 
was  as  convinced  as  any  person  could  be  that  in 
reality  He  had  come  into  her  presence  and  talked 
with  her. 

But  there  is  another  aspect,  and  a  very  important 
one,  in  which  Catherine  of  Siena  ought  to  be  viewed. 
She  was  not  only  a  subject  of  hysterical  visions,  she 
did  not  only  give  rise  to  wild  and  absurd  devotions, 
but  she  was  a  distinguished  politician  and  exerted 
immense  influence  in  the  distracting  years  which  pre- 
ceded the  return  of  Gregory  XI.  to  Rome.  There 
are  things  of  more  moment  to  be  attributed  to  her 
courage  and  sound  sense  than  incredible  and  even 
blasphemous  accounts  of  interviews  with  the  Saviour 
of  mankind.  Catherine  was  for  years  well  known  in 
her  native  city  as  a  consoler  of  the  poor,  as  a  minis- 
ter to  the  sick,  as  a  maker  of  peace  between  divided 
families  and  quarrelling  communes,  but  it  is  not  easy 
to  fix  the  precise  time  of  her  taking  part  in  public 


78    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

affairs.  However,  in  1372  we  find  her  in  correspon- 
dence with  most  important  personages,  and  her  letters 
to  the  Nuncio  in  Tuscany,  urging  him  to  intercede 
with  the  Pope  to  put  down  nepotism,  to  stop  the 
luxury  of  the  bishops,  and  to  create  only  good  and 
virtuous  cardinals,  can  be  read  and  admired. 

Florence  rebelled  against  the  edicts  of  the  Pope, 
and  so  fanned  the  flame  of  revolution  that  before  the 
end  of  1375  the  whole  papal  domain,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Bologna,  was  in  revolt.  The  Pope  sent  an 
army  against  Florence,  but  also  employed  an  engine 
of  war  which  was  then  quite  as  powerful — a  bull  of 
excommunication.  This  brought  the  Florentines  to 
their  senses.  They  determined  to  send  a  mediator 
to  the  Pope,  and  they  chose  for  their  mediator  Cath- 
erine of  Siena,  who  had  been  in  the  midst  of  the  tu- 
mult and  had  managed  by  her  counsels  to  keep  Lucca 
and  Pisa  out  of  the  disturbance.  This  strange  am- 
bassador, a  saintly  woman,  arrived  in  Avignon  June, 
1376,  and  was  received  by  the  Pope  with  the  great- 
est kindness.  He  placed  the  whole  question  of  the 
peace  in  her  hands,  but  the  embassy  from  Florence 
which  came  after  her  had  an  impression  that  they 
could  make  better  terms  by  dealing  directly  with  the 
Pope,  and  they  declined  to  make  use  of  her  as  inter- 
mediary„ 

She  was,  however,  to  bring  about  a  thing  much 
more  important  to  the  Christian  world  than  the  mere 
getting  a  peace  for  Florence.  Gregory  XL,  of  whose 
pure  and  gentle  character  we  have  already  spoken, 
had  secretly  made  a  vow  that  he  would  return  to 
Rome,  and  he  openly  avowed  his  desire  to  do  so,  but 


Departure  of  Gregory  for  Rotne.        79 

everything  was  against  him.  He  was  a  French  noble 
of  one  of  the  most  powerful  Limousin  families,  sur- 
rounded by  French  nobles  and  French  cardinals  all 
strongly  interested  in  keeping  him  where  he  was. 
His  health  was  very  delicate  and  he  feared  (with 
justice)  that  the  air  of  Rome  would  completely  de- 
stroy the  little  constitution  he  had.  He  loved  peace 
and  quiet,  and  shrank  from  encountering  the  rude  and 
barbarous  Romans.  To  such  a  character,  yearning 
to  lean  upon  some  strong  arm,  the  advent  of  a  strong 
nature  like  Catherine's  was  a  great  boon.  She  at 
once  won  his  perfect  confidence  and  set  herself  to 
work  to  bring  him  to  determine  that,  no  matter  what 
the  obstacles  might  be,  he  would  restore  the  Papacy 
to  its  own  city,  Rome. 

It  is  not  meant  to  convey  the  idea  that  there  were 
not  many  reasons  to  induce  him  to  do  this,  the  chief 
ones  being  the  impossibility  of  any  longer  governing 
Rome  from  a  distance,  and  the  possibility  of  the 
Romans  setting  up  an  antipope  from  among  the  Ital- 
ian bishops.  It  was  Catherine,  however,  who  induced 
him  to  give  these  reasons  their  proper  weight,  and  who 
braced  his  weak  will  to  the  point  of  determination. 
She  spoke  in  public  many  times  in  Avignon,  as  she 
had  done  in  Florence  and  elsewhere,  but  the  opposi- 
tion was  very  powerful.  She  even  begged  the  Pope 
to  steal  away  secretly  ;  but  at  length  her  victory  was 
won,  and  on  September  13,  1376,  amid  a  sullen  court, 
his  aged  father  at  his  feet  imploring  him  not  to  go, 
Gregory  XI.  left  Avignon,  never  to  return. 

As  he  journeyed  through  France  he  met  every- 
where tears  and  gloom.     Marseilles,  where  he  was  to 


8o    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

embark,  was  filled  with  crowds  of  mourning  people, 
and  soon  after  the  embarkation  there  came  on  a  ter- 
rible storm.  The  little  fleet  was  sixteen  days  going 
from  Marseilles  to  Genoa,  where  Catherine  with  her 
companions  had  preceded  on  foot  the  papal  cortege. 
Then  came  the  news  that  Rome  and  Florence  were 
in  commotion  and  would  oppose  him  to  the  last;  so 
a  consistory  was  held  at  Genoa,  and  it  was  resolved 
to  proceed  no  farther  with  the  journey.  All  seemed 
lost,  but  Catherine  secretly  visited  the  Pope  and  by 
her  words  of  courage  induced  him  to  go  on.  Ten 
days  were  spent  at  Genoa,  then  another  delay  at 
Leghorn  of  eleven  days,  and  then,  when  again  the 
galleys  had  put  to  sea,  a  fearful  storm  drove  them 
all  back  nearly  shipwrecked. 

One  of  the  aged  cardinals  died  at  Pisa  from  the 
eflfects  of  seasickness,  but  at  last  Corneto  was  reached 
on  December  1st,  two  months  after  leaving  Marseilles. 
There  was  a  long  delay  there,  and  it  was  not  until 
January  17,  1377,  that  the  Pope  landed  near  the 
great  Basilica  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  "  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity "  was  over,  though  its  fatal  consequences  had 
only  just  begun.  The  fickle  Romans  received  him 
with  such  wild  joy  that  it  must,  for  a  time  at  least, 
have  surmounted  the  mournful  feelings  with  which 
he  had  bidden  adieu  to  his  native  France. 

To  finish  here  with  the  history  of  St.  Catherine, 
it  will  suffice  to  say  that  her  public  life  did  not  end 
here.  The  Pope  sent  her  as  ambassador  to  Florence 
in  1378,  and  the  effect  of  her  three  orations  in  the 
Palazzo  Vecchio  was  to  bring  back  that  city  to  its 
obedience.     A  treaty  was  signed  in  July,  and  Cathe- 


Death  of  Catherine  of  Sie?ia.  8i 


rine  retired  to  the  tranquillity  of  Siena,  where  she 
composed  the  "  Dialogue,"  a  work  in  mystical  theol- 
ogy over  which  we  need  not  linger.  When  the  great 
schism  broke  out  she  wrote  to  the  Italian  cardinals 
begging  them  to  stand  by  the  Pope,  and  she  was  even 
summoned  to  Rome  by  Urban  to  be  his  counsellor. 
She  did  all  she  could  to  restrain  his  stern  and  im- 
practicable temperament,  but  in  vain,  and  while  it  is 
going  beyond  credibility  to  agree  with  her  priest 
biographer  that  her  prayers  to  God  stopped  the  popu- 
lar tumults,  she  undoubtedly  influenced  the  Romans 
in  favor  of  peace.  Her  long  fasts  and  vigils  had 
completely  exhausted  her,  and  just  before  Quinqua- 
gesima,  1380,  she  passed  away,  her  last  thoughts  and 
her  last  words  being  about  the  schism  which  had 
broken  her  great  heart.  Hers  was  a  singular  life,  a 
mixture  of  hysterical  religious  exaltation  and  of  ex- 
treme and  enlightened  common  sense.  Among  the 
many  strange  biographies  of  that  eventful  time  there 
is  none  stranger  than  that  of  this  weak,  untaught 
woman  of  a  little  Tuscan  city,  the  counsellor  of  popes 
and  correspondent  of  kings. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DEATH  OF  GREGORY  XI. — ELECTION  OF  URBAN  VI. 

OPE  GREGORY didnot  feel  at  all  athome 
in  his  capital  city.  Everywhere  around 
him  he  saw  ruins,  crumbling  walls,  and 
tottering  churches.  The  many  wars  and 
riots  had  bred  a  rude  and  ungentle  manner 
in  the  people,  even  towards  their  sovereign.  He 
could  not  speak  Italian  and  so  could  not  understand 
the  popular  language,  and  it  is  thought  that  he  would 
soon  have  gone  back  to  Avignon  if  the  climate,  as 
he  feared,  had  not  seized  on  his  weak  constitution 
and  carried  him  off  at  the  early  age  of  forty-seven, 
March  27,  1378.  There  is  a  story,  not  very  well 
authenticated,  that  on  his  death-bed  he  urged  those 
around  him  not  to  listen  to  overzealous  men  or 
women  who  had,  or  thought  they  had,  revelations 
from  God.  He  left  a  will  in  which  is  this  noble  sen- 
timent:  "  If  either  in  the  consistory  or  in  public,  by 
any  slip  of  the  tongue  arising  from  reckless  joy,  or 
from  self-complacency  at  being  in  company  with 
magnates,  or  from  any  other  disturbance  of  mind, 
we  have  spoken  anything  against  the  Catholic  faith, 
we  revoke  it  expressly  and  consider  it  as  not  spoken." 
It  was  not  often  in  those  days  that  a  Pope  was 
82 


Gregorys  Fear  and  his  Last  Commands.   83 

seen  as  gentle,  as  humble,  as  truly  devout  as  Gregory 
XI.  He  died  with  a  heart  filled  with  the  greatest 
anxiety.  The  Romans  had  now  for  a  long  while 
been  accustomed  to  much  freedom  of  action.  They 
had  conquered  the  patrician  families  and  put  down 
their  influence.  They  called  themselves  the  heirs  of 
the  old  Roman  republic,  and  Gregory  had  found,  to 
his  sorrow,  that  they  would  illy  tolerate  the  royal 
authority  which  as  Pope  King  he  was  called  upon  to 
assert.  He  only  wished  to  exercise  his  legal  rights, 
but  murmurs  long  and  loud  called  him  an  oppressor, 
and  he  was  so  convinced  that  his  death  would  be  the 
signal  for  much  trouble  that  only  eight  days  before 
his  demise,  in  a  consistory,  he  released  the  cardinals 
from  any  obedience  to  the  laws  then  existing  for 
their  governance.  They  were  to  be  allowed  to  hold 
their  election  when  and  where  they  pleased,  without 
even  waiting  for  the  ninth  day's  funeral  ceremonies 
for  the  dead,  without  any  formal  conclave,  a  majority 
of  votes  to  be  sufficient.  The  guardian  of  tlie  Castle 
of  St.  Angelo  received  the  strictest  orders  not  to  give 
up  the  castle  to  the  new  Pope  until  the  consent  of 
the  six  cardinals  who  had  remained  at  Avignon  had 
been  received. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  these  precautions. 
Gregory  knew  how  deeply  the  Romans  were  con- 
cerned in  the  election,  and  how  determined  they  were 
to  have  an  Italian  Pope,  and  he  wished  to  empower 
the  cardinals  to  hold  the  election  before  the  Romans 
could  take  any  action.  He  felt  sure  that  in  this  way 
he  could  secure  the  election  of  a  French  Pope,  for  of 
the    sixteen    cardinals    then    in   Rome   eleven   were 


84   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Frenchmen,  much  more  than  a  mere  majority,  and 
Gregory  considered  the  others  as  not  of  much  account. 

No  sooner  was  the  breath  out  of  the  Pope's  body 
than  the  Roman  officials  appeared  before  the  cardinals 
and  pictured  to  them  in  the  most  moving  manner  the 
pitiable  state  of  their  city,  which  had  been  for  hun- 
dreds of  years  the  head  of  the  world  and  was  now 
deprived  of  all  her  glory.  Rome  was  the  seat  of  St. 
Peter  and  his  successors,  and  it  was  a  bitter  wrong 
for  the  bride  to  be  so  long  separated  from  the  bride- 
groom. It  was  the  direct  providence  of  God  that  had 
brought  the  last  Pope  back  to  Rome,  they  said,  and 
it  was  the  same  providence  that  had  taken  him  away 
when  he  thought  of  going  back  to  Avignon,  and  they 
begged  the  cardinals  to  give  them  some  information 
before  going  into  the  conclave  about  their  intentions, 
for  if  they  did  not  they  could  not  answer  for  the 
peace  of  the  city.  The  cardinals  fought  off  the  giving 
of  any  direct  reply.  They  would  do  anything,  they 
said,  for  the  good  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  try  to 
choose  the  right  man,  but  also,  on  their  part,  they 
threatened  the  Romans  that  unless  they  kept  quiet 
they  would  again  quit  Rome  for  good  and  all. 

Two  things  the  cardinals  asked :  that  the  great 
crowd  of  peasants  which  had  collected  in  Rome 
should  be  sent  home,  and  that  the  great  square  of  St. 
Peter's,  with  the  bridges  and  gates  which  led  to  it, 
should  be  kept  free  so  that  the  populace  might  not 
get  near  the  Vatican.  The  officials  were  anxious  to 
carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  Sacred  College,  but  the 
city  was  in  the  highest  state  of  commotion.  Groups 
everywhere  were  discussing  the  situation,  and  a  car- 


The  Archbishop  of  Bari.  85 


dinal  could  not  appear  on  the  street  or  be  at  peace 
in  his  house  without  excited  citizens  informing  him 
that  a  Pope  must  be  chosen  to  suit  the  Romans.  The 
cardinals  did  not  much  relish  this  talk,  but  they  were 
not  much  frightened  by  it;  if  they  had  been  they 
would  have  availed  themselves  of  some  of  the  per- 
missions of  Gregory;  but  they  did  not,  and  did  not 
even  think  it  necessary  to  hold  the  election  in  the 
Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  where  they  would  have  been 
safe  from  any  interruption.  They  sent  their  own 
valuables  there,  and  all  the  papal  jewels  and  orna- 
ments, for  fear  of  the  thieving  Romans,  but  they  did 
not  go  there  themselves. 

Rome  was  full  of  wire-pullers  of  the  episcopal 
order,  and  not  the  least  conspicuous  was  Bartholomew 
Prignani,  Archbishop  of  Bari,  the  coming  Pope ;  but 
the  gossip  that  he  pulled  wires  for  his  own  election 
originated  entirely  with  his  enemies  and  is  not  worth 
much  notice.  He  was  a  Neapolitan  by  birth,  from 
the  lower  classes,  and  owed  his  advancement  entirely 
to  his  own  energy  and  industry.  The  late  Pope  had 
intrusted  him  with  the  temporary  vice-chancellorship 
in  the  absence  of  the  Cardinal  of  Pampeluna.  He 
was  a  man  of  earnest  and  irreproachable  character  and 
of  spotless  morals,  dull  by  nature,  without  any  clear 
perception  of  his  own  interests  or  of  those  of  his 
fellows.  He  certainly  had  no  genius  for  intrigue,  in 
spite  of  what  his  enemies  have  said,  {ov  his  subsequent 
conduct  showed  how  little  judgment  he  had  even  in 
advancing  his  own  interests. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  very  prominent 
man  in  Rome  at  that  time,  and  openly  and  every- 


86    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

where  avowed  his  intention  of  doing  everything  in 
his  power  to  keep  the  Papacy  at  Rome.  Gayet  finds 
a  reason  for  thinking  that  he  aspired  to  the  Papacy 
in  the  fact  that  he  bought  a  house  in  Rome  just  be- 
fore the  death  of  Gregory  in  order  to  quahfy  liimself 
as  a  Roman  citizen ;  but  when  you  consider  that  he 
held  a  high  place  in  the  Roman  curia,  there  was  noth- 
ing strange  in  his  buying  a  house.  His  election  was 
due  neither  to  terror  nor  to  his  own  efforts.  The 
many  new  documents  which  have  been  unearthed  of 
late  years  by  Souchon  and  Gayet,  and  the  results  of 
which  are  summed  up  in  a  monograph  on  the  election 
by  Dr.  Jahr,  place  it  on  very  different  grounds. 

The  Sacred  College  at  Gregory's  death  consisted 
of  twenty-three  members;  six,  with  Gregory's  per- 
mission, had  remained  in  Avignon,  one  was  Nuncio 
at  Florence,  so  that  there  were  sixteen  in  Rome  to 
go  on  with  the  election.  These  sixteen  were  by  no 
means  agreed,  and  it  was  these  disagreements  and 
not  the  terror  caused  by  the  tumult  of  the  Romans 
that  favored  the  cause  of  the  Archbishop  of  Bari. 
This  can  be  shown  by  letters  and  recorded  conversa- 
tions, though  in  the  letter  which  the  cardinals  sent 
over  the  world  they  affirm  that  they  chose  Bari  solely 
from  fear  of  the  Roman  people.  There  were  three 
groups:  I.  The  Limousin  cardinals,  that  is,  those 
from  Limoges  and  the  region  round  about;  these 
were  six  in  number.  2.  The  other  French  cardinals, 
three  in  number.  3.  The  four  Italian  cardinals. 
Then  there  were  Cardinals  Glandeve  and  St.  Eustache, 
who  were  on  the  fence,  and  Cardinal  St.  Angelo,  who 
kept  his  inclinations  strictly  to  himself.     All  except 


The  Opcni?tg  of  the  Conclave.  87 

the  Limousins  were  determined  that  no  Limoges 
cardinal  should  be  elected.  The  last  three  popes  had 
been  from  Limoges,  and  that  party  Vvere  bent  on 
electing  this  one,  but  they  soon  saw  that  they  could 
not  hope  to  do  it,  and  they  then  began  to  support  the 
name  of  the  Arciibishop  of  Bari. 

There  is  no  question  that  before  the  conclave  met 
or  there  was  any  fear  of  a  Roman  mob  his  name  had 
been  freely  mentioned  as  the  most  likely  caiulitlate 
in  case  an  Italian  had  to  be  chosen.  The  cardinals 
knew  before  they  went  into  the  conclave  that  they 
could  not  agree  to  elect  a  Frenchman,  and  no  more 
eligible  Italian  presented  himself  than  Bari.  He  was 
a  subject  of  the  Countess  of  Provence,  the  ruler  of 
Naples,  and  therefore  in  a  quasi  way  a  Frenchman, 
and  perhaps  could  be  got  to  return  to  Avignon,  and 
there  was  every  reason  to  think  he  would  suit  the 
Romans.  One  of  the  greatest  proofs  that  his  name 
had  been  favorably  canvassed  is  that  when  proposed 
in  the  conclave  so  very  little  was  said  against  him. 

This,  then,  was  the  state  of  things  among  the  car- 
dinals when,  on  the  evening  of  April  7,  1378,  they 
went  into  the  conclave  at  the  Vatican.  The  Piazza 
of  St.  Peter  was  full  of  armed  men,  for  the  guards  had 
been  unable  to  keep  the  crowd  from  approaching  the 
palace.  Naturally  enough,  the  Romans  did  not  wish 
to  lose  the  spectacle.  They  had  been  deprived  of  it 
for  nearly  a  century,  and  they  did  not  forget  that 
many  a  time  in  the  years  past  the  voices  of  the  people 
of  Rome  had  greatly  influenced  the  choice  of  a  Pope. 
Some  writers  say  that  the  storm  in  the  heavens  above 
was  as  violent  that  day  as  the  storm  of  human  passion 


88    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

below.  Louder  and  louder  rang  out  the  cry,  "  We 
must  have  a  Roman  or  at  least  an  Itahan;"  but  the 
loudest  cries  were,  "A  Roman,  only  a  Roman!" 
The  palace  was  full  of  angry,  noisy  men,  and  it  was 
only  after  considerable  time  and  much  trouble  that 
the  officials  were  able  to  close  and  lock  the  doors,  and 
the  customary  bricking  up  of  the  door  into  the  conclave 
had  to  be  foregone.  It  must  be  always  remembered 
that  the  statement  of  great  tumult  and  noise  comes 
from  the  Pope's  enemies. 

Cardinal  di  Luna  says  there  was  indeed  a  great 
deal  of  excitement,  but  that  he  was  not  frightened; 
and  the  suggestion  that  the  cardinals  were  old  men 
and  therefore  easily  terrified  will  not  hold  water,  for 
the  cardinals  for  the  most  part  were  in  middle  life,  and 
men  were  not  easily  alarmed  in  that  rough  age.  The 
rooms  under  the  conclave  hall  could  not  be  cleared ; 
they  were  filled  with  citizens,  who  broke  into  the 
papal  wine-cellar,  drank  the  wines,  and  added  the 
noise  of  drunken  riot  to  all  the  other  excitement.  It 
was  late  and  the  cardinals  were  trying  to  enjoy  a  little 
rest  when  there  appeared  at  the  door  the  heads  of 
the  city  wards,  who  begged  an  interview  with  the 
cardinals.  They  unwillingly  assented,  and  the  dele- 
gation, begging  pardon  for  such  late  interviewing,  be- 
sought the  cardinals  to  give  them  some  assurance 
that  an  Italian  and  if  possible  a  Roman  would  be 
chosen.  The  cardinals  refused,  and  Florence  repri- 
manded them  in  very  heated  words  for  their  pre- 
sumption. Sleeping  was  tried  again,  but  there  was 
too  much  noise,  and  the  conclave  met  between  four 
and  five  in  the  morning  for  the  mass  of  the  Holy 


The  Election  of  Bari.  89 


Ghost,  and  then  went  to  the  chapel  for  the  voting, 
the  cries  and  shouts  outside  rising  higher  and  higher, 
all  uniting  in  one  yell,  "  Give  us  a  Roman!"  Some 
one  got  the  keys  of  the  bell-tower  of  St.  Peter's,  and 
there  was  a  tremendous  bell-ringing,  though  there  is 
much  controversy  as  to  whether  the  bell-ringing  was 
before  or  after  the  election. 

The  voting  began  about  8  A.M.     The  Cardinal  of 

Florence  was  just  about  to  vote,  he  coming  first,  when 

the  guardians  of  the  conclave  appeared  at  the  window 

and  begged  the  cardinals  to  hurry,  as  the  mob  could 

not  much   longer  be   restrained.     The    Cardinal   of 

Florence  stood  hesitating,  when  Agrifolio  and  Orsini 

rushed  to  the  window  and  gave  an  assurance  that  a 

Roman  would  be  chosen.     The  Cardinal  of  Florence 

then  proposed  a  Roman,  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Peter's, 

saying,  "  I  would  have  proposed  a  PVenchman  if  you 

had   not   given   this   assurance."      The  turn  of  the 

Cardinal  of  Limoges  came  next.      He  nominated  the 

Archbishop  of  Bari,  and  then  all  the  rest  voted  for 

him  except  Orsini,  who,  being  a  Roman,  was  most 

anxious  to  be  Pope. 

There  was  some  talk  about  going  to  another  and  a 
safer  place  so  that  they  might  vote  over  again  for 
Bari,  but  nothing  came  of  it.  They  were  afraid  to 
tell  the  people  (the  riot  was  so  great)  that  a  Roman 
had  not  been  chosen,  and  they  sent  three  of  their  num- 
ber to  say  to  them  that  if  they  would  wait  patiently 
for  a  day  a  Roman  or  an  Italian  would  certainly  be 
elected.  Very  unwillingly  the  mob  retired  from 
about  the  palace,  and  after  sending  for  Bari  and  some 
other  prelates  the  cardinals  sat  down  to  luncheon,  not 


90    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

being  too  frightened  to  eat.  Indeed,  the  Bishop  of 
Marseilles  entertained  at  a  festive  meal  the  prelates 
who  had  been  summoned. 

The  coming  of  the  summoned  prelates,  however, 
excited  anew  the  multitude,  for  they  were  perfectly- 
certain  the  choice  had  fallen  on  one  of  them,  and  they 
began  clamoring  to  know  the  name.  After  luncheon 
the  cardinals  went  back  to  the  chapel  to  counsel  as 
to  what  course  it  was  best  to  take.  "  Let  us  stick  to 
what  we  have  done,"  was  the  conclusion.  Again  the 
votes  were  cast  for  Bari,  and  this  time  all  present 
voted  and  it  was  unanimous.  Cardinal  Orsini  went 
to  the  window  and  called  out,  "  Go  to  St.  Peter's," 
meaning  to  convey  the  intention  of  the  cardinals  to 
publish  their  choice  there.  His  words  were  entirely 
misapprehended.  The  mob  understood  him  to  say, 
"  Cardinal  of  St.  Peter's,"  and  according  to  custom 
they  rushed  off  to  plunder  his  house,  that  being 
always  the  people's  privilege.  A  crowd  burst  into 
the  conclave  chamber,  and  surrounding  the  aged 
Cardinal  of  St.  Peter's,  kissed  his  feet  and  struggled 
to  embrace  him,  he  crying  out  all  the  time  that  the 
Archbishop  of  Bari  and  not  he  had  been  elected.  At 
last  he  fainted  and  his  attendants  got  him  into  an- 
other room,  while  the  mob  rushed  raging  through  the 
palace  to  find  Bari  and  force  him  to  decline  or  be 
killed,  for  they  were  determined  to  have  a  Roman, 
The  cardinals  took  advantage  of  this  dispersion  to  flee 
away,  many  leaving  in  their  haste  their  mantles  and 
hats.  Some  went  to  their  homes,  some  to  St.  Angelo, 
and  som.e  to  the  adjacent  country. 

The  Bishop  of  Lodi  hid  the  newly  elected  Pope  in 


Coronation  of  Bari.  91 

an  out-of-the-way  room  and  so  the  night  passed. 
It  certainly  could  not  have  been  a  very  happy  night 
for  Bari.  He  knew  that  he  had  been  chosen  Pope, 
but  with  such  a  furious  people  against  him  and  all 
the  cardinals  in  hiding,  how  small  an  honor  it  must 
have  seemed !  He  acted,  however,  with  moderation 
and  prudence.  He  sent  early  for  the  city  authorities, 
who  were  eager  to  recognize  him  as  Pope,  but  he 
declined  to  be  so  recognized  until  he  was  enthroned 
and  crowned.  The  authorities  now  went  to  work  to 
bring  back  the  cardinals,  but  it  was  three  in  the  after- 
noon before  the  fears  of  twelve  could  be  overcome 
and  they  got  to  the  palace,  the  crowd  having  now 
dispersed.  These  went  to  the  chapel,  again  pro- 
claimed Bari,  and  Agrifolio  brought  him  out  of  his 
hiding-place.  Florence  then  formally  notified  him 
of  his  election,  he  accepted,  took  the  name  of  Urban 
VI.,  and  mounted  the  pontifical  throne. 

On  Saturday,  April  loth,  he  was  escorted  by  the 
cardinals  to  St.  Peter's,  where  he  celebrated  mass. 
On  the  same  day  the  cardinals  who  had  fled  into  the 
country  came  back  and  adored  him,  and  the  corona- 
tion was  set  for  Easter,  April  i8th,  when  Orsini 
placed  the  papal  crown  upon  his  head.  The  cardinals 
notified,  in  the  meantime,  their  brethren  in  Avignon, 
using  these  conclusive  words  :  "  Since  w^eighty  matters 
are  often  misinterpreted  through  false  reports,  we 
notify  you  that  freely  and  uncontrolled  we  chose  the 
Archbishop  of  Bari  to  succeed  Gregory."  Urban, 
for  his  part,  wrote  to  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe. 
He  entered  undisturbed  on  his  duties  as  Pope,  assisted 
in  every  way  by  the  cardinals,  and  he  bestowed  on 


92    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

them  and  others  bishoprics  and  preferments  without 
a  sign  of  dissatisfaction.  Two  letters  are  extant,  one 
from  his  bitter  enemy,  Cardinal  Robert  of  Geneva, 
the  coming  antipope,  which  declare  that  the  arch- 
bishop was  freely  chosen  and  make  no  mention  of 
any  "  force  majeure  "  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

The  story  of  Urban's  election  has  been  made  thus 
minute  in  order  to  show  how  perfectly  legal  that 
election  was.  Even  granting  that  the  cardinals  were 
terrified, — and  their  actions  prove  that  that  supposi- 
tion was  much  exaggerated, — when  they  were  freed 
from  the  cause  of  fear  they  persisted  in  their  choice 
and  everywhere  acknowledged  as  their  Pope  and 
sovereign  Urban  VI.  Their  renunciation  of  him  and  the 
schism  they  caused  sprang  from  their  disappointment 
at  his  persistence  in  remaining  at  Rome  and  from  the 
defects  of  character  which  soon  manifested  themselves 
in  him.  The  plea  that  they  had  chosen  him  because 
forced  to  do  so  was  only  an  excuse.  He  was  not  a 
pleasant  Pope,  but  it  was  their  solemn  duty  to  have 
borne  with  him  and  stood  by  him,  and  bitter  woes 
came  upon  the  church  by  their  taking  another  course. 

Early  in  May  some  of  the  cardinals  betook  them- 
selves to  Anagni,  the  summer  resort  of  the  popes, 
and  by  the  24th  of  June  all  were  there  except  the 
four  Italians  who  remained  with  Urban.  Messengers 
were  constantly  passing  between  the  Pope  and  the 
college,  and  outwardly  there  was  perfect  concord,  but 
the  hatred  of  the  cardinals  for  their  chosen  one  grew 
daily  deeper.  The  Pope  was  so  rude  in  his  speeches 
to  them,  so  haughty  in  his  demeanor,  especially  when 
it  is  remembered  that  they  were  for  the  most  part 


Character  of  Urban  VI.  93 

nobles  and  he  low-born,  that  they  could  not  endure 
it.  He  showed  an  utter  absence  of  tact,  for  almost 
his  very  first  act  was  publicly  to  rebuke  in  his  chapel 
the  bishops  who  were  present  for  being  absent  from 
their  sees.  One  was  not  afraid  to  answer,  "  I  am 
here  on  necessary  business."  He  charged  the  nuncios 
in  the  consistory  with  taking  bribes,  and  the  Cardinal 
of  St.  Marcello  said,  "  As  you  are  Pope,  I  cannot 
reply,  but  if  you  were  still  the  little  Archbishop  of 
Bari  \archiepiscopcllHs\  I  would  tell  you  that  you 
lied."  He  declared  in  season  and  out  of  season  that 
he  would  not  leave  Rome  and  that  he  would  make 
so  many  Italian  cardinals  that  the  Frenchmen  would 
have  no  chance.  This  was  not  calculated  to  increase 
their  loyalty.  Common  speeches  of  his  to  the  cardi- 
nals were,  "  Shut  up !  "  "  Stop  your  talk !  "  It  caused 
quite  a  flutter  when  he  called  the  high-born  Orsini 
a  fool. 

Dietrich  von  Niem,  who  was  the  secretary  of  briefs 
to  Urban  as  to  several  other  popes,  says  of  him : 
"  There  was  in  this  man  a  hard  and  restless  nature, 
no  humanity,  no  conciliation  of  dispositions.  He  was 
contumacious,  threatening,  rough,  more  willing  to  be 
shunned  and  to  be  feared  than  to  be  loved."  Cath- 
erine of  Siena,  although  on  his  side  and  working  for 
him,  did  not  hesitate  to  remonstrate  with  him  strongly. 
In  her  nineteenth  letter  she  says :  "  Mitigate  a  little, 
for  the  love  of  Christ,  these  sudden  impulses.  You 
have  a  great  heart,  but  these  sudden  passions  are  the 
plague  of  your  soul."  He  changed  so  perfectly  after 
his  accession  that  the  cardinals  were  not  much  out  of 
the  way  in  thinking  him  mad,  for  he  often  acted  like  it. 


94    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

As  has  been  said,  the  cardinals  were  at  Anagni,  and 
they  asked  the  Pope  to  come  there.  He  decHned  and 
summoned  them  to  Tivoli,  where  he  and  the  four 
Italian  cardinals  were.  They  declined  to  come,  for 
they  were  secretly  plotting  to  dethrone  him.  They 
wrote  letters  to  the  most  eminent  jurists,  trying  to 
get  opinions  that  the  election  of  Urban  was  illegal  and 
forced  on  them.  They  received,  however,  but  cold 
comfort,  as  the  general  opinion  was  that  no  flaw  could 
be  found  in  it.  On  the  9th  of  August  the  thirteen 
cardinals  who  were  at  Anagni  put  forth  a  paper  in 
which  they  called  Urban  all  the  ugly  names  in  the 
rich  repertory  of  the  ecclesiastical  dictionary, — 
"  Antichrist,  devil,  apostate,  tyrant,  deceiver,  elected 
by  force,"  etc., — and  called  upon  him  immediately 
to  give  up  the  throne. 

It  was  a  base  and  cowardly  act,  not  dictated  at  all  by 
a  love  for  the  church,  but  because  they  were  afraid 
of  having  to  give  up  the  life  of  power  and  luxury  and 
ease  which  had  so  long  been  theirs.  They  knew  per- 
fectly well  that  the  election  of  Urban  was  as  valid  as 
that  of  any  Pope  had  ever  been,  and  they  also  knew 
that  the  kingdom  of  France  would  support  them  in 
whatever  extremity  they  put  themselves,  for  France 
wanted  to  keep  a  Pope  of  her  own  choosing.  Thomas 
d'Acerno  gives  six  reasons  for  their  action:  i.  The 
Pope's  limitation  of  their  luxury,  especially  of  their 
expensive  dinners.  2.  The  strict  prohibition  of 
simony,  which  was  their  common  vice.  3.  The 
Pope's  threat  to  make  cardinals,  which  every  Pope 
has  always  done.  4.  His  determination  to  stay  at 
Rome,  which  was  his  proper  place  and  the  seat  of  the 


The  Secession  of  the  Cardinals.        95 

Papacy  from  the  first.  5.  His  insulting  language, 
which  was  not  agreeable,  certainly,  but  was  not  the 
slightest  excuse  for  denying  his  authority.  6.  His 
refusal  to  go  to  Anagni  and  summoning  them  to  him  ; 
certainly  he  would  have  been  a  very  cowardly  sover- 
eign if  he  had  done  otherwise.  No  excuse  at  this 
point  can  be  made  for  the  cardinals ;  nothing  guided 
them  but  self-interest.  It  is  no  excuse  to  say  that 
they  had  no  idea  of  the  fatal  consequences,  for  they 
could  not  help  knowing  that  the  election  of  another 
Pope  would  throw  the  whole  church  into  the  most 
terrible  disorder.  In  the  providence  of  God,  their 
action  ultimately  brought  about  the  lowering  of  the 
extravagant  demands  of  the  Papacy  and  loosed  the 
bonds  in  which  it  had  so  long  held  the  European 
powers,  but  that  is  no  excuse  for  them. 

After  their  manifesto  of  the  9th  of  August,  the 
recalcitrant  cardinals  took  measures  to  protect  them- 
selves. There  was  a  large  force  of  Breton  soldiers  in 
Italy  under  the  banner  of  the  Count  of  Geneva,  also 
a  cardinal.  These  they  called  to  their  support.  The 
Romans  tried  to  stop  the  coming  of  these  troops  to 
Anagni,  but  failed,  although  three  hundred  dead  were 
left  upon  the  field.  The  cardinals  removed  from 
Anagni  to  Fondi,  which  was  in  Neapolitan  and  not 
papal  territory,  and,  by  promising  each  one  secretly 
that  he  should  be  the  new  Pope,  induced  three  of  the 
Italian  cardinals  to  join  them.  Urban  now  had  only 
one  cardinal  left  with  him,  the  old  Cardinal  of  St. 
Peter's ;  but  he  soon  died,  leaving  a  will  in  which  he 
strongly  asserted  the  legality  of  Urban's  election. 
Then  the  Pope,  without  one  particle  of  tact  or  pru- 


96    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

dence,  made  twenty-nine  new  cardinals  at  once,  a  thing 
totally  unprecedented  and  unnecessary ;  and  as  if  he 
did  not  need  all  the  friends  he  could  muster,  he  em- 
broiled himself  with  Joanna,  Queen  of  Naples,  who 
had  been  anxious  to  do  all  she  could  to  help  him. 
The  Archbishop  of  Aries  stole  away  from  the  Castle 
of  St.  Angelo  with  all  the  papal  jewels  and  insignia 
and  joined  the  cardinals  at  Fondi.  There,  on  the 
20th  of  September,  1378,  the  cardinals  went  through 
the  mad  and  guilty  ceremony  of  choosing  a  new  Pope 
in  place  of  Urban,  whom  they  deposed  with  bell, 
book,  and  candle. 

Their  choice  fell  not  on  a  man  of  piety,  learning, 
and  good  repute,  but  on  a  soldier,  a  captain  of  free- 
lances, the  Count  of  Geneva,  a  cardinal  indeed,  but  a 
mockery  of  every  quality  that  should  grace  a  cardinal. 
He  was  connected  by  birth  with  many  of  the  royal 
houses  of  Europe,  but  his  life  had  been  passed  on 
battle-fields  and  not  in  churches,  and  the  blood  of 
more  than  one  massacre  was  on  his  armor.  He  took 
the  name  of  Clement  VH.,  and  bitter  were  the  gibes 
and  jests  on  one  so  fierce  by  nature  calling  himself 
"  Clement."  And  so  began  the  great  schism  which 
for  more  than  forty  years  tore  Christendom  to  pieces 
and  dragged  the  banner  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  in  the 
vilest  mud;  everywhere  hateful  words,  lies,  perjury, 
trickery,  simony,  and  the  grossest  and  most  unblush- 
ing immorality  on  the  part  of  those  set  highest  in  the 
church.  The  laws  of  the  church  were  everywhere 
set  at  naught,  and  one  hideous  game  of  grab  occupied 
popes,  kings,  priests,  and  potentates  from  Norway  to 
Italy. 


The  Varying  Obediences.  97 

It  is  one  of  the  greatest  proofs  of  the  divine  origin 
of  the  church  and  of  the  eternal  vitahty  of  Christian- 
ity that  it  lived  through  this  horrible  period,  and  that 
in  the  hours  of  the  deepest  degradation  God  was  not 
without  far  more  than  the  seven  thousand  who  had 
not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  Not  only  among  the 
Spiritual  Franciscans  and  other  mystics,  not  only  in 
convents  and  monasteries,  but  everywhere  in  humble 
parishes  and  in  quiet  city  homes  were  thousands  of 
devout  people  who  looked  with  horror  on  the  witches* 
dance  of  sin  and  lawlessness  going  on  around  them 
and  considered  it  the  curse  of  God  upon  the  church 
for  its  sinfulness.  Daily  and  hourly  many  devout 
prayers  went  up  to  the  throne  of  heaven  that  this 
life-crushing  burden  might  be  removed  from  His 
long-suffering  people. 

It  would  be  amusing  if  it  were  not  so  sad  to  note 
how  political  affinities  and  race  animosities  dictated 
which  Pope  a  country  should  acknowledge  without 
any  regard  to  the  justice  of  his  claims  or  the  holiness 
of  his  character.  France  declared  for  Clement,  and 
of  course  England  then  took  sides  with  Urban.  Italy 
stuck  to  her  own  son.  Germany,  sick  of  French 
popes,  was  all  for  Urban.  If  England  was  for  Urban, 
why  of  course  Scotland  was  for  Clement.  Spain  was 
engineered  into  the  Clementine  ranks,  but  since 
France  was  that  way  why  Flanders  must  be  the 
other  way  and  shout  for  Urban.  Even  now  it  is 
hard  to  tell  which  Pope  deserved  obedience,  and 
Roman  Catholic  writers  do  not  always  agree  about 
the  line.  The  councils  which  met  about  the  schism 
carefully  shirked  that  question,  and  even  such  a  his- 


98    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

torian  as  Gieseler  prints  Clement  VII.  and  Benedict 
XIII.  in  the  genuine  series,  and  if  Alexander  VI.  was 
a  right  numbering  then  certainly  Alexander  V.  must 
be  counted  in.  It  is  a  pretty  question  for  casuists, 
and  to  casuists  let  us  commit  it. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

URBAN    VI.    AND    CLEMENT  VII. 

ERE  Stood,  then,  the  two  rival  popes,  and 
as  a  matter  of  course  the  first  thing  they 
did  was  to  call  each  other  names.  Each 
was  Antichrist,  and  each  was  the  arch- 
apostate,  and  all  the  spiritual  weapons  in 
their  arsenals  were  at  once  wheeled  into  line.  Urban 
excommunicated  four  of  the  French  cardinals  and  a 
whole  crowd  of  noblemen,  and  Clement  did  the  same 
for  a  select  company  of  the  Urbanists.  Clement 
went  to  Naples,  and  the  queen  and  many  of  the 
nobles  greeted  him  warmly ;  but  the  great  bulk  of 
the  people  were  for  Urban,  and  a  riot  soon  broke  out. 
Clement  fled  before  it,  soon  embarked  for  France, 
and  hastened  to  Avignon,  which  was  all  swept  and 
garnished  and  tenanted  by  seven  other  spirits  more 
determined  than  even  he  was  to  perpetuate  the  schism. 
The  great  difficulty  that  stared  Urban  in  the  face 
was  the  want  of  money.  The  great  river  of  wealth 
which  usually  flowed  into  the  papal  coffers  was  much 
choked  by  the  confusion  in  men's  minds  as  to  which 
Pope  ought  to  receive  it,  and  it  was  very  hard  to  reap 
anything  from  soil  which  had  been  so  harried  and 
exhausted  as  his  own  dominions.     To  make  up  for 

99 


lOO   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

all  this  he  entered  on  a  course  of  the  most  unblush- 
ing rapacity  and  simony.  He  ransacked  the  Roman 
churches  for  their  plate  and  ornaments,  and  traded 
with  dealers  for  the  property  of  parishes  and  monas- 
teries, and  even  instituted  a  commission  to  sell  prop- 
erty without  the  consent  of  bishop,  rector,  or  superior. 

At  last  he  got  together  enough  to  pay  an  army, 
and  was  able  to  drive  out  the  robbing  Bretons  and 
get  possession  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  He  then 
turned  his  attention  to  Joanna,  Queen  of  Naples,  called 
her  in  bulls  all  the  names  he  could  conjure  up,  and 
declared  that  she  was  deprived  of  her  kingdom,  which 
he  gave  to  her  nephew,  Charles  of  Durazzo,  Cath- 
erine of  Siena  had  a  finger  in  this  pie,  as  we  see  from 
several  of  her  letters.  Clement  in  Avignon  was  on 
Joanna's  side,  since  Urban  was  on  the  other;  and  since 
the  latter  had  given  the  kingdom  to  Charles,  Clement 
and  Joanna  gave  it  to  Louis  of  Anjou,  for  whom 
Clement  created  a  principality  in  the  Italian  territory 
— an  easy  thjng  to  do  on  paper,  for  Clement  was  in 
Avignon  and  could  not  control  a  foot  of  Italian  soil. 
Battles  and  sieges  took  place ;  Joanna,  who  had  had 
four  husbands,  and  who,  according  to  what  historian 
you  follow,  was  either  a  Messalina  or  a  Lucretia,  dis- 
appeared from  the  earth,  and  Charles  reigned  in  her 
place,  for  Louis  died  of  the  plague  in  Italy. 

Urban  came  to  Naples  to  confer  with  the  new  king, 
and  there  acted  with  that  utter  absence  of  self-control 
and  common  wisdom  which  seems  to  have  marked  his 
whole  pontificate.  He  was  cursed  with  a  nephew, 
named  Butilio,  who  was  constantly  getting  him  into 
trouble  by  his  acts  of  violence.     He  carried  off  a  nun, 


The  Siege  of  Noeera.  loi 

for  which  sacrilege  the  courts  condemned  him  to  die ; 
but  the  Pope  said  it  was  only  a  youthful  escapade  not 
worth  noticing,  and  he  annulled  the  sentence.  The 
affair  was  patched  up,  and  the  Pope  and  cardinals  (and 
most  unwilling  cardinals  they  were,  never  knowing 
from  one  day  to  the  other  how  his  Holiness  was  going 
to  act)  left  Naples  for  Noeera.  There  Urban  tried 
hard  to  make  some  new  cardinals,  but  he  could  not 
get  anybody  to  accept  the  dignity  ;  it  had  been  made 
too  cheap. 

Charles  tried  to  have  a  conference  with  him,  but 
the  haughty  Pope  sent  word,  "  Kings  have  been  ac- 
customed to  come  to  popes,  not  popes  to  go  to  kings." 
The  angry  king  replied,  "  I  will  come,  but  at  the 
head  of  an  army."  He  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
Noeera  was  soon  invested,  and  every  day  the  old  and 
furious  Pope  marched  around  the  battlements  with 
bell,  book,  and  candle,  excommunicating  all  his  ene- 
mies beneath  the  walls.  The  cardinals,  more  and 
more  frightened  at  the  Pope's  actions,  now  began  to 
consult  eminent  lawyers  as  to  what  course  they  had 
better  take,  for  some  of  them  considered  the  pontiff 
totally  insane.  Urban  got  wind  of  this,  and  he  seized 
on  six  cardinals  whose  names  had  been  given  him,  put 
them  in  a  loathsome  prison,  then  brought  them  to 
trial  and  tortured  them  to  make  them  confess. 

What  a  spectacle !  the  Vicar  of  Christ  gloating  over 
the  sufferings  of  his  chief  counsellors!  For  while 
they  were  shrieking  with  pain  he  was  walking  up  and 
down  in  a  garden  near  by  reading  his  breviary,  and 
his  miserable  nephew  stood  laughing  by  the  side  of  the 
sufferers.     All  this  and  much  more  about  Urban  and 


I02    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

his  successors  is  told  us  by  Dietrich  von  Niem,  whose 
Latin  memoir  of  the  schism  is  most  interesting  and 
most  vigorous.  Urban  at  last  was  able  to  escape  from 
Nocera,  and,  dragging  the  six  wretched  cardinals  with 
him,  he  managed  to  reach  Trani,  and  there  found 
Genoese  galleys  which  conveyed  him  and  his  suite  to 
Genoa.  The  canny  Genoese  sent  in  a  heavy  bill  for 
these  galleys,  and  the  Pope  had  to  make  over  to  them 
a  seaport  in  payment.  On  the  land  journey  one  of 
the  prisoners,  the  Bishop  of  Aquila,  could  not  keep 
up,  and  the  Pope  coolly  ordered  him  to  be  murdered 
and  his  body  left  by  the  roadside. 

While  at  Genoa  the  other  accused  cardinals  were 
secretly  made  way  with,  excepting  one,  an  English- 
man, the  Bishop  of  London,  who  escaped  death  by 
the  intercession  of  his  sovereign,  Richard  II.,  but  he 
was  kept  in  prison  until  after  Urban's  death.  Urban 
could  not  be  peaceful  anywhere.  He  soon  quarrelled 
with  the  Genoese,  moved  to  Lucca,  and  then  to  Peru- 
gia. There  his  evil-genius  nephew,  Butilio,  again 
came  to  the  front  and  by  his  acts  of  violence  and  lust 
made  the  place  too  hot  to  hold  his  uncle,  and  in 
August,  1388,  Urban  returned  to  Rome.  He  now 
evolved  a  new  scheme  for  raising  money  and  pro- 
claimed a  jubilee.  Clement  VI  had  fixed  the  period 
between  the  jubilees  at  fifty  years,  but  Urban  reduced 
it  to  thirty-three  years,  the  time  of  our  Saviour's 
earthly  life,  and  fixed  on  the  next  year  as  the  proper 
one. 

He  was  very  busy  getting  ready  for  it,  when  he 
was  thrown  by  his  mule,  and  the  shock  was  so  great 
that  after  a  lingering  illness  he  died  October  15,  1389. 


Public  Verdict  on  Urban  VI.  103 


No  one  regretted  him,  and  when  one  reviews  his  acts 
and  marks  his  fearful  temper,  his  silly  obstinacy,  and 
his  want  of  judgment  on  the  most  ordinary  occasions, 
one  is  inclined  to  believe  that  those  of  his  time  who 
thought  him  mad  were  not  far  out  of  the  way  The 
epigram  of  Tacitus  on  the  Emperor  Galba  will  well 
apply  to  him  :  "  Omnium  consensu,  capax  imperii  nisi 
imperassef  ("  All  men  thought  him  capable  of  ruling, 
until  he  ruled  "). 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

CLEMENT    VII. — BONIFACE    IX. 

EANWHILE  the  Avignon  Pope  was 
comparatively  quiet.  The  fierce  Count 
of  Geneva  had  much  changed  since  he 
had  been  made  Pope.  He  was  much 
more  affable  and  tractable  than  his  ad- 
versary, who  had  been  a  monk  from  his  youth  and  of 
the  strictest  manner  of  life  all  his  days.  Clement, 
like  Urban,  wanted  always  money,  money.  He  had 
the  rich  kingdom  of  France  to  bleed,  and  he  bled  it 
to  the  last  drop.  The  French  clergy  shrieked  and 
complained,  and  some  lamented  loudly  and  bitterly 
that  they  had  ever  taken  him  as  Pope ;  but  Clement 
had  thirty-six  cardinals  to  provide  for,  and  even  one 
cardinal  absorbed  considerable  cash.  The  Sacred 
College  kept  men  employed  all  over  the  kingdom  to 
notify  them  when  a  rich  parish  or  a  cathedral  stall  or 
an  abbacy  became  vacant,  and  then  with  the  quickness 
of  lightning  a  papal  bull  put  them  in  possession  of  it. 
The  papal  officers  sold  "  reversions,"  that  is,  the  title 
to  a  benefice,  which  was  good  as  soon  as  the  present 
holder  should  die  or  vacate.  The  effect  was  most 
disastrous  on  religion.  The  parishes  were  neglected, 
the  abbeys  could  no  longer  help  the  poor,  and  the 
great  University  of  Paris  was  depleted  of  students. 
This  university  did  its  utmost  to  put  an  end  to  the 
104 


Election  of  Boniface  IX.  105 

schism.  It  contained  among  its  teaching  staff  many 
enHghtened  and  conscientious  men,  and  they  appealed 
solemnly  to  Clement  to  call  a  general  council  and 
submit  to  it  the  question.  He  seemed  to  give  heed 
to  what  they  said,  but  there  were  too  many  French 
prelates  and  French  politicians  interested  in  keeping 
up  a  French  Pope  to  allow  him,  even  supposing  him  to 
have  been  sincere,  to  carry  out  such  a  purpose.  When 
Urban  died  he  and  his  cardinals  fondly  hoped  that  the 
schism  would  finish  and  that  the  world  would  ac- 
knowledge him  as  Pope ;  but  the  Italian  cardinals 
had  no  thought  of  such  a  thing,  nor  can  we  see  any 
reason  why  they  should  have  thought  so.  They  could 
not  with  any  consistency  acknowledge  Clement  as 
having  been  legally  chosen,  so  they  met  immediately 
and  elected  Peter  Tomacelli,  Cardinal  of  St.  Anas- 
tasia,  who  took  the  name  of  Boniface  IX. 

Some  say  he  was  only  thirty  years  old  ;  his  secretary, 
Dietrich  von  Niem,  says  he  was  forty-four.  Thirty 
seems  very  young  for  a  cardinal,  but  Clement  VII. 
beatified  one  named  Peter,  Bishop  of  Metz,  who  was 
only  eighteen.  Such  a  saint  was  this  youth  reputed 
that  the  king  and  the  University  of  Paris  sent  Peter 
d'Ailly  to  Avignon  to  plead  for  his  canonization. 
In  his  plea  he  stated  that  the  youthful  prelate  had 
raised  seventy-five  persons  from  the  dead.  "  Credat 
Judasus,"  etc. 

Boniface  was  a  man  of  glittering  generalities,  super- 
ficial, fluent,  not  accused  of  immorality,  but  generally 
and  constantly  accused  of  the  worst  simony  under 
which  the  church  had  ever  suffered.  Clement,  bad 
as  he  was,  was  not  worthy  in  this  respect  to  tie  the 


io6    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

latchet  of  Boniface's  shoes.  In  one  fell  swoop  he 
reserved  to  himself  one  year's  income  of  all  bishoprics 
and  abbacies.  If  you  wanted  to  buy  a  bishopric  (and 
nothing  was  more  common),  you  had  to  pay  down  the 
money  in  advance  for  it,  and  there  were  regular 
offices  in  Rome  where  you  could  get  the  money 
advanced  and  give  a  lien  on  the  income  of  your  see, 
after  the  Pope  had  pocketed  the  first  year.  He  in- 
vented a  new  mode  of  squeezing  clients.  He  sold 
reversions,  as  others  had  done,  and  then  sold  them 
again  to  some  one  else ;  so  that  when  the  abbot  of  a 
fat  place  died  three  or  four  would  come  forward  with 
the  proper  papers  showing  that  they  had  bought  and 
paid  for  it,  and  the  one  who  had  a  form  marked 
"  preference  above  all  other  preferences  "  got  it. 

For  a  hundred  gold  florins,  if  you  were  a  mendicant 
friar,  you  could  get  yourself  transferred  to  an  order 
which  was  not  mendicant.  People  wondered,  and 
justly,  how  mendicant  friars  vowed  to  poverty  could 
have  a  hundred  gold  florins,  but  they  did  have  them 
and  paid  them  over.  The  Pope's  mother  and  his 
three  brothers  were  greedier  than  he  was ;  they  made 
hay  while  the  sun  shone,  and  laid  tribute  on  every 
one  who  had  business  with  the  Papacy.  So  many 
wretched  and  unfit  persons  were  put  in  responsible 
places  that  there  came  to  be  a  saying  in  the  church, 
"The  Bonifacian  plantations,  which  the  heavenly 
Father  planted  not." 

It  was  very  hard  for  Boniface  to  get  money,  for 
the  rich  mines  of  France  and  Spain  were  worked  by 
the  antipope.  England  did  indeed  acknowledge  him, 
but  the  English  were  very  sensitive  about  so  much 


Boniface  Begs  for  Money.  107 


money  going  out  of  the  kingdom,  and  under  Edward 
III.  the  famous  statutes  called  "  provisors  "  had  been 
passed  in  A.l).  1 350.  They  forbade  any  man  to  receive 
any  provision  or  preferment  from  the  court  of  Rome  ; 
that  the  king  should  present  when  proper,  but  that 
elections  to  bishoprics  be  free.  In  1353  a  statute 
of  "  premunire  "  provided  that  "  any  one  who  should 
carry  to  a  foreign  tribunal  matter  which  was  cog- 
nizable in  the  king's  court,  or  who  should  try  to  im- 
peach in  any  foreign  court  a  judgment  which  had 
been  pronounced  by  the  king  s  court,  should  be  cited 
to  answer  before  the  king,  and  if  he  did  not  appear 
should  be  outlawed,  forfeit  his  property,  and  be  com- 
mitted to  prison."  This  was  the  strongest  antipapal 
act  passed  before  Henry  VIII. 's  time,  and  it  shows 
how  long  before  the  Reformation  the  English  people 
were  preparing  for  it.  Pope  Boniface  stormed  over 
such  laws,  but  in  vain.  Then  he  tried  humbling  him- 
self, and  in  April,  1371,  sent  a  piteous  letter  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  English  clergy 
begging  for  money.  They  were  very  obdurate,  and 
there  is  a  statement  extant  showint^  that  all  he  real- 
ized from  this  moving  appeal  was  about  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars. 

Mournful  as  this  picture  is,  it  is  not  without  its 
bright  side.  The  very  horror  of  it  all,  the  venality, 
the  utter  disregard  of  the  commonest  honesty,  the 
gross  sensuality,  the  greed  of  the  highest  prelates, 
brought  many  earnest  souls  closer  to  God  and  drove 
them  to  their  knees  in  prayer  for  the  afflicted  church. 
There  were  many  devotedly  religious  people,  and 
every  hamlet  had  its  simple  and  pious  souls  who  lived 


io8    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

in  an  atmosphere  very  different  from  the  tainted  one 
of  papal  and  royal  courts.  There  are  sermons,  de- 
votional treatises,  etc.,  of  that  time  which  breathe  the 
truest  spirit  of  piety.  One  natural  consequence  of 
the  papal  greed  was  that  everywhere  in  Europe  was 
to  be  found  an  ever-increasing  number  of  learned  and 
sensible  men  who  believed  no  longer  in  the  prevailing 
doctrine  of  the  superiority  of  the  Pope  to  all  law.  It 
had  been  held  and  taught  that  a  Pope's  every  word, 
his  every  decree  and  manifest,  no  matter  how  con- 
trary to  civil  law  or  to  the  revealed  law  of  God,  was 
not  to  be  questioned ;  but  the  actions  of  the  popes 
themselves  were  fast  letting  light  in  upon  that  dark- 
ness. 

The  jubilee  which  Urban  VI.  had  arranged,  but  did 
not  hve  to  see,  took  place  in  1390,  and  that  the  real 
rehgious  spirit  still  had  some  vigor  is  shown  by  the 
large  number  of  persons  who  In  spite  of  all  the  dis- 
turbances and  difficulties  appeared  at  Rome.  This 
jubilee  brought  in  a  great  deal  of  money  to  Boniface, 
and  he  sent  agents  all  over  Europe  to  hawk  indul- 
gences for  those  who  wanted  to  come  to  Rome,  but 
were  hindered  from  doing  so.  This  increased  his 
store,  and  some  of  the  money  he  laid  out  in  repairs 
on  some  of  the  almost  ruined  Roman  churches.  The 
jubilee  was  such  an  easy  way  of  coining  money  that 
Boniface  had  the  ingenuity  and  the  coolness  to  de- 
clare that  the  last  one  was  irregular  and  ought  not 
to  have  been  held  at  thirty-three  years'  interval,  that 
fifty  years  was  the  proper  time,  so  that  one  was  due 
in  1400,  and  he  issued  a  bull  providing  for  it. 

He  was  not  living  at  Rome  then,  for  the  Romans, 


Success  of  the  Jubilee  of  1390.         109 

when  they  had  a  Pope,  never  could  treat  him  well 
for  any  length  of  time.  They  were  miserable  with- 
out him  and  made  him  miserable  when  he  was  with 
them,  so  since  1393  Boniface  had  been  living  in 
Perugia  and  other  places.  As  the  jubilee  drew  near, 
the  Romans  felt  that  in  some  way  or  other  he  must 
be  got  back,  for  a  jubilee  without  a  Pope  would  be 
as  "  Hamlet"  with  Hamlet  left  out;  so  they  humbled 
themselves,  and  Boniface  took  advantage  of  their 
necessities.  They  agreed  that  the  "bannerets,"  as 
they  were  called,  the  popular  rulers  of  the  city,  should 
be  done  away  forever  and  that  the  Pope  should  be  the 
real  and  not  the  titular  sovereign  of  Rome.  This 
jubilee  was  a  wonderful  success.  The  French,  who 
had  not  been  able  to  attend  the  last,  flocked  to  this 
one,  and  indulgences  were  granted,  of  course  for  pay, 
to  those  who  would  promise  to  visit  certain  designated 
churches  in  their  own  neighborhood  in  lieu  of  going 
to  Rome.  So  much  money  came  in  from  this  source 
that  the  Pope  was  able  to  clear  out  the  choked  harbor 
of  Ostia,  put  in  repair  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo  (and 
in  doing  this  he  was  obliged  to  hang  thirty-one  of 
the  Colonnas  who  attacked  him),  improve  the  Vati- 
can, and  obtain  a  foothold  and  an  authority  in  Rome 
which  his  predecessors  had  not  enjoyed  for  well-nigh 
two  centuries. 

To  return  to  the  schism,  Boniface  as  soon  as  he  had 
been  made  Pope  sent  letters  to  all  the  sovereigns, 
expressing  his  great  regret  over  the  division  in  the 
church  and  his  earnest  desire  to  put  an  end  to  it ;  but 
as  he  alluded  to  Pope  Clement  under  the  title,  "  son 
of  Belial,"  these  letters  were  not  productive  of  much 


I  lo    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

harmony.  The  University  of  Paris,  however,  did  not 
cease  its  constant  efforts  to  close  up  the  ghastly 
breach,  and  memorialized  the  king,  the  unhappy 
Charles  the  Mad,  begging  him  to  take  up  the  busi- 
ness. They  proposed  that  one  of  three  plans  should 
be  agreed  upon  :  arbitration,  resignation  of  bothpopes, 
trial  of  the  case  before  a  general  council.  It  is  said 
that  ten  thousand  individual  opinions  in  the  case  were 
collected  by  the  university.  A  copy  of  this  memo- 
rial was  sent  to  Clement.  He  foamed  with  rage  over 
it,  and,  calling  his  cardinals  together,  laid  it  before 
them.  What  was  his  amazement  to  hear  them  say 
that  they  agreed  with  it,  and  thought  he  ought  to 
strive  to  carry  it  out !  He  answered  not  a  word,  shut 
himself  up  in  his  room,  and  three  days  after  died  in 
a  fit  of  apoplexy  doubtless  caused  by  his  agitation, 
September  i6,  1394. 

The  moment  he  was  dead  the  university  memorial- 
ized the  king,  who  happened  to  be  sane  at  that  time, 
begging  him  to  prevent  the  cardinals  at  Avignon  from 
electing  a  new  Pope,  and  he  lost  no  time  in  writing 
them  to  that  effect.  His  letter  found  them  already 
assembled  in  conclave,  and  having  an  inkling  as  to 
its  contents,  they  resolved  not  to  open  it  until  the 
election  had  been  held.  So  on  they  went  in  the 
woful  course  of  division,  although  never  had  a  better 
opportunity  offered  for  taking  the  first  steps  to  heal 
it.  They  elected  the  very  one  of  their  number  who 
by  cunning  and  double-dealing  would  be  the  most 
apt  to  prevent  the  closing  of  the  strife,  Peter  di  Luna, 
a  Spaniard,  who  took  the  title  of  Benedict  XHI. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

BENEDICT    XIII. — INNOCENT    VII. 


KNEDICT  XIII.  had  been  one  of  the  most 
acti\e  in  starting  the  schism  by  the  election 
of  Clement  at  Fondi,  though  no  one  more 
than  he  had  in  words  bewailed  that  step. 
He  had  declared  that  he  would  make  any 
sacrifice  to  put  an  end  to  it,  but  all  that  was  mere 
talk,  for  neither  he  nor  his  cardinals  had  the  slightest 
idea  of  giving  up.  The  cardinals  all  took  an  oath  at 
the  election  that  if  it  would  help  the  matter  they 
would,  if  elected,  resign,  but  not  one  of  them  meant 
one  word  of  it.  There  was  too  much  to  be  got  out 
of  it  for  such  as  they  to  give  up.  They  were  per- 
fectly ready  to  heal  the  schism  if  their  Pope  could  be 
the  Pope,  otherwise  not.  The  University  of  Paris 
still  persisted  in  its  laudable  efforts  and  advised  Bene- 
dict to  take  earnest  steps  towards  a  reunion,  but  he 
gave  only  polite  words  in  reply.  The  whole  king- 
dom of  France  was,  however,  becoming  aroused  on 
the  subject,  and,  whether  it  took  many  years  or  few, 
men  were  resoh-ed  that  there  should  be  no  peace 
until  this  frightful  chasm  was  filled.  On  February  2, 
1395,  a  national  council  met  in  Paris.  The  king  was 
again  insane  and  could  not  attend,  but  there  was  a 

III 


1 12    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

large  number  of  bishops,  monks,  and  distinguished 
university  people.  The  judgment  of  the  university 
that  the  Pope  should  resign  was  adopted  by  a  vote 
of  eighty-seven  to  twenty-two. 

A  deputation  of  the  noblest  names  in  France  was 
selected  to  carry  this  message  to  Avignon  and  pre- 
sent it  to  the  Pope,  and  prayers  were  ordered  to  be 
offered  in  all  the  churches  of  France  for  the  success 
of  the  embassy.  The  ambassadors  had  hard  work  to 
obtain  an  interview  with  the  Pope,  but  the  cardinals, 
finding  the  pressure  very  great,  after  much  talking 
of  a  very  heated  nature,  agreed  to  support  the  em- 
bassy and  secure  their  admission  to  the  pontifical 
presence.  Benedict  tried  to  stave  the  matter  off  by 
submitting  the  project  of  a  meeting  between  himself 
and  Boniface,  but  the  ambassadors  replied  that  such 
a  scheme  was  perfectly  impracticable  and  impossible 
to  realize.  The  Pope,  of  course,  knew  that  as  well 
as  anybody,  but  he  tried  to  bully  them  into  assenting 
to  it.  "  I  am  your  sovereign,"  he  said, — "  not  only 
yours,  but  of  all  who  are  living."  This  sort  of  talk 
greatly  disgusted  the  embassy,  and  refusing  even  to 
dine  with  the  Pope,  they  went  back  to  Paris.  The 
general  opinion  was  that  if  the  two  popes  should  meet 
they  would  divide  Christendom  between  them,  and 
there  would  be  two  popes  forever. 

The  university  now  decided  to  send  trusty  persons 
to  the  different  kings  in  Europe  and  endeavor  to  in- 
duce them  to  join  in  an  effort  to  put  down  the  schism, 
but  nothing  came  of  it.  Benedict  now  attempted  to 
interfere  with  the  university,  but  the  faculty  greatly 
resented  this  and  appealed  from  any  act  of  his  to  a 


France  Repudiates  Betiedict.  1 1 3 

"future,  true,  and  only  Pope."  Benedict  declared 
that  any  such  language  was  unlawful.  They  im- 
mediately repeated  it  and  declared  their  belief  that 
schismatical  popes  were  subject  to  general  councils,  and 
that  after  death  their  acts  were  referable  to  the  judg- 
ment of  their  true  successors,  which  is  something 
widely  different  from  the  modern  papal  doctrine.  In 
1398,  after  a  meeting  of  the  French  king  and  the 
German  emperor  to  talk  over  the  schism  and  their 
failure  to  get  both  popes  to  resign,  there  was  again  a 
council  in  France. 

This  was  not  simply  an  ecclesiastical  affair,  for 
many  of  the  lay  dignitaries  were  present.  Long  and 
earnestly  they  debated  whether  the  kingdom  of  France 
should  continue  to  acknowledge  Benedict.  After 
twelve  days'  discussion,  by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and 
forty-seven  out  of  three  hundred,  they  decided  no 
longer  to  do  so,  and  the  king  communicated  the  deci- 
sion to  the  whole  realm.  No  one  was  to  obey  Bene- 
dict, or  pray  for  him,  or,  what  was  much  worse,  pay 
any  money  to  him.  When  this  was  made  known  at 
Avignon  all  the  cardinals  but  two  forsook  Benedict 
and  fled  over  the  Rhone  to  Villeneuve,  which  was  a 
French  town  and  not  in  the  papal  dominion.  Bene- 
dict sent  after  them  the  usual  number  of  curses,  but 
they  returned  not.  As  the  Pope  was  so  recalcitrant, 
the  French  king  sent  an  army  under  Marshal  Bouci- 
cault  to  Avignon  to  besiege  the  papal  palace.  They  did 
not  attempt  to  storm  it,  and  for  a  wonder  the  Pope  did 
not  come  out  and  curse  them.  This  siege  was  kept  up 
seven  months,  and  the  papal  household  was  very  short 
of  provisions,  although  a  great  stock  had  been  laid  in. 


114   ^'^^  ^^^  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 


The  turncoat  cardinals  kept  urging  the  king  to  seize 
Benedict,  and  things  became  so  warm  that  the  Pope 
was  forced  to  yield  and  agree  to  be  kept  under  the 
guard  of  the  cardinals  and  the  chief  citizens  of  Avig- 
non. They  pledged  the  king  that  the  Pope  should 
not  be  allowed  to  leave  his  palace,  and  he  remained 
there  a  prisoner  from  April,  1399,  until  March,  1403, 
obstinately  refusing  to  abdicate.  Strict  as  the  watch 
was  which  was  kept,  Benedict  managed  one  day  to 
slip  past  his  guards  in  disguise,  hide  in  a  friendly 
house  in  Avignon  until  the  next  day,  when  swift 
rowers  carried  him  down  the  Rhone  to  the  strong 
castle  of  Renaud,  in  Provence,  and  therefore  subject 
to  Louis,  King  of  Sicily  and  Count  of  Provence,  the 
Pope's  sworn  friend  and  loyal  subject. 

Benedict  had  chosen  the  nick  of  time.  France  was 
torn  to  pieces  by  the  rival  factions  of  Orleans  and 
Burgundy,  and  whoever  was  the  enemy  of  one  side 
was  the  friend  of  the  other.  Burgundy  was  against 
Benedict ;  therefore  Orleans,  the  king's  brother,  was 
for  him,  and  Orleans  controlled  the  mad  king.  Again 
there  was  a  great  assembly  at  Paris,  and  the  king,  at 
the  moment  sane,  came  in  with  his  brother,  Orleans, 
and  declared  that,  since  none  of  the  other  sovereign 
powers  would  withdraw  from  Benedict,  he  would  not, 
and  that  again  he  acknowledged  him  as  Pope.  Swift 
as  the  wind  the  cardinals  turned  again  and  took  their 
places  at  Benedict's  side,  and  he  was  once  more  the 
Pope  of  much  of  Europe,  especially  of  England, 
France,  and  Spain.  To  obtain  this  favor  from  Charles 
the  Pope  had  faithfully  promised  to  do  what  he  could 
to  extinguish  the  schism,  and  he  did  forthwith  send 


Embassy  to  Boniface.  1 1 5 

an  embassy  to  Rome  to  confer  with  Boniface.  The 
Romans  gave  a  safe-conduct,  and  the  ambassadors 
arrived  safely  in  Rome,  but  Boniface  would  only  re- 
ceive them  as  Pope. 

With  the  usual  good  sense  of  Frenchmen,  they 
agreed  not  to  press  that  question,  and  at  the  first 
interview  they  laid  before  him  a  scheme  for  meeting 
in  some  place  and  discussing  the  whole  subject  of  the 
schism.  "Very  well,"  said  he;  "but  remember,  I 
am  the  only  Pope;  your  master  is  an  antipope." 
"  That  may  be,"  said  the  angry  deputies,  "  but  at  all 
events  he  is  not  a  simoniac."  The  thrust  went  home, 
and  the  Pope,  who  had  for  some  time  been  in  wretched 
health,  now  took  to  his  bed  and  in  a  day  or  two  de- 
parted to  his  eternal  rest.  Dietrich  von  Niem  says 
that  when  dying  he  exclaimed,  "  If  I  had  money  I 
would  be  well."  But  Dietrich  is  not  always  free  from 
gossip. 

It  must  be  said  for  Boniface  that  he  ruled  his  little 
kingdom  with  far  more  ability  and  justice  than  his 
predecessors  had  done.  He  had  to  fight  many  a  hard 
battle  with  rebellious  burghers,  not  only  of  Rome, 
but  of  Perugia,  of  Assisi,  and  everywhere  in  Italy, 
where  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  were  springing  at  each 
other's  throats.  When  his  greatest  foe,  Visconti, 
Duke  of  Milan,  who  was  rapidly  conquering  all  Italy, 
came  against  him  and  his  cause  seemed  desperate,  a 
providential  plague  carried  the  duke  off,  and  the 
pontiff  gave  devout  thanks.  These  contests  cost  the 
Pope  much  money,  and  this  probably  was  the  great 
cause  of  the  Pope's  marvellous  rapacity  and  unscru- 
pulous simony.     Improbable  as  it  seems,  it  rests  on 


ii6    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

excellent  testimony  that  he  "  absolutely  cancelled  all 
his  own  grants,  indulgences,  and  dispensations,  and 
those  of  his  predecessors,  so  that  they  all  might  be 
regranted  over  again  for  five  years  and  new  fees 
collected." 

On  the  death  of  Boniface,  Benedict  fondly  hoped 
that  his  claims  would  be  recognized  and  that  the 
Italian  party  would  elect  no  other  Pope,  but  his 
hopes  were  soon  rudely  shattered.  The  Italians  had 
every  reason  to  go  on  with  an  election,  for  they 
thought  with  justice  that  their  line  was  the  only  true 
one  ;  so  without  any  delay,  on  October  i  7,  1404,  they 
chose  Cosimo  Megliorotto,  Cardinal  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  who  took  the  name  of  Innocent  VII.,  a  gentle, 
pure-hearted,  excellent  old  man,  not  distinguished 
for  anything  in  particular,  but  anxious  to  have  peace 
and  to  lead  a  quiet  life,  which  was  perfectly  impossi- 
ble for  a  Pope  of  those  times,  especially  for  one  who 
was  so  ill-fated  as  to  have  to  live  in  Rome.  The 
stern  rule  of  Boniface  had  kept  the  quarrelsome 
burghers  well  under,  but  the  new  Pope  was  too  weak 
and  yielding  to  cope  with  them.  Colonnas  and  Sa- 
vellis  swooped  down  from  their  mountain  fastnesses 
to  swell  the  tide  of  insurrection,  and  Orsinis,  as  usual, 
took  up  arms  for  the  pontiff.  As  had  happened 
often  before,  the  streets  ran  blood,  the  palaces  were 
looted,  the  cause  of  religion  disgraced. 

Ladislas,  the  King  of  Naples,  was  in  Rome  at  the 
time  with  strong  hankerings  after  some  of  the  papal 
territory.  Innocent  tried  to  purchase  his  mediation 
by  ceding  to  him  for  a  limited  time  the  possession 
of  the  Maremma,  and  the  king  tried  to  mediate ;  but 


Reign  of  Innocent   VII.  1 1 7 

since  the  Pope  had  to  surrender  twenty  thousand 
florins  of  income,  the  royal  mediation  did  not  do  him 
much  good.  Tiie  city  was  divided  into  two  iiostile 
camps,  and  the  Tiber  was  the  dividing  Hne,  the  Pope 
on  one  side  at  St.  Angelo,  and  the  people  on  the 
other  at  the  Capitol.  In  August,  1405,  less  than  a 
year  after  his  coronation,  Innocent  was  forced  to  flee 
away  to  Viterbo,  and  there  his  nephew,  a  hot-headed 
young  man,  got  into  a  quarrel  with  some  of  the  citi- 
zens, killed  eleven  of  them,  and  threw  their  bodies 
out  of  the  window,  while  the  Pope,  helpless  and  hor- 
rified, sat  weeping  in  his  apartments.  Then  there 
was  a  fierce  combat ;  the  palaces  of  the  cardinals 
flamed  in  the  air,  the  Abbot  of  St.  Peter's  was  mur- 
dered before  the  Pope's  eyes,  the  Colonnas  were 
masters  of  the  situation,  and  all  was  tumult  and  con- 
fusion. 

The  King  of  Naples  had  an  army  all  ready  near 
Rome,  and  he  thought  it  a  good  time  to  push  it  for- 
ward and  get  a  slice  of  what  was  going;  but  the 
Romans,  even  if  they  had  driven  out  their  rightful 
lord,  the  Pope,  had  not  the  least  desire  to  have  the 
King  of  Naples  for  their  master;  so,  after  a  bloody 
conflict,  Ladislas  was  obliged  to  retreat,  and  in  March, 
1406,  tiie  Pope  came  back  again  and  used  the  well- 
worn  papal  weapons  of  excommunication  against  the 
king.  Ladislas  gave  way  before  this  and  surrendered 
the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo. 

This  was  accomplished  in  November,  1406,  and  be- 
fore the  month  was  out  the  poor,  weary  Pope  was  done 
with  all  the  trials  of  this  world  and  at  rest  among  the 
long  line  of  his  predecessors.     The  Roman  cardinals, 


Ii8    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

fifteen  in  number,  really  hesitated  about  going  on  with  a 
new  election,  but  if  Rome  was  to  be  kept  for  the  popes 
it  was  necessary  to  have  a  head  there  immediately. 
They  had  no  alternative  but  to  proceed,  their  very 
lives  depended  on  it,  and  so  they  went  into  conclave. 
How  they  all  protested  and  swore  that  the  election 
they  were  going  to  hold  was  a  pure  matter  of  form, 
and  that  whoever  was  elected  was  to  be  simply  an 
instrument  for  resigning  whenever  his  rival  should 
hold  out  any  hopes  of  doing  hkewise !  The  iron-clad 
oath  wliich  they  took,  that  whoever  was  elected 
should  always  stand  ready  to  resign,  is  extant  in  the 
useful  chronicles  of  Dietrich  von  Niem,  who  still  keeps 
up  through  all  these  reigns  his  budget  of  news. 

No  one  swore  more  loudly  or  protested  more  ear- 
nestly than  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Mark,  Angelo  Corario, 
a  native  of  Venice  and  nearly  eighty  years  of  age. 
He  certainly  seemed  a  safe  man  to  elect,  and  elected 
he  was  and  took  the  name  of  Gregory  XH.  At 
his  enthronement  he  said  "  his  only  fear  was  that  he 
would  not  live  to  accomplish  the  holy  work  of  unifi- 
cation," Fine  words,  these,  but  Von  Niem,  who  was 
in  a  position  to  know,  implies  that  he  did  not  mean 
them.  Oaths  were  easily  made  and  broken  then. 
However  that  may  be,  Gregory  immediately  took 
steps  in  the  right  direction  and  sent  a  letter  to  Bene- 
dict which  was  earnest  and  well  conceived.  He  ad- 
dressed it  to  "  Peter  di  Luna,  whom  some  nations 
during  this  wretched  schism  call  Benedict  XHl." 
Peter  di  Luna  replied  in  the  same  strain  and  addressed 
his  letter  to  "  Angelo  Corario,  whom  some  nations  in 
this  wretched  schism  call  Gregory  XH."     Both  were 


Gregory  Sets  out  to  Meet  Benedict.      1 1 9 


quits  then  as  far  as  titles  went,  and  both  letters  ex- 
pressed the  most  fervent  desires  for  peace  and  reunion. 
Benedict's  words  were  very  strong :  "  Haste,  delay 
not;  consider  our  age,  the  shortness  of  life  ;  embrace 
at  once  the  way  of  salvation  and  peace,  that  we  may 
appear  with  our  united  flock  before  the  great  Shep- 
herd." 

Soon  the  city  of  Novara,  in  our  day  the  seat  of  a 
flourishing  commerce,  was  chosen  as  the  place  where 
the  popes  were  to  meet,  each  put  off  the  papal  in- 
signia, and  then  the  two  colleges  of  cardinals  were 
to  unite  and  choose  a  successor.  Everything  looked 
fair  and  promising,  when  Gregory  began  to  hedge. 
He  could  not  well  help  it,  for,  although  a  man  of  ex- 
cellent character,  he  was  old,  easily  frightened,  and 
entirely  under  the  dominion  of  some  greedy  neph- 
ews who  meant  to  make  all  they  could  out  of  his 
Papacy  and  to  keep  it  up  as  long  as  possible.  Lad- 
islas,  the  King  of  Naples,  was  of  the  same  way  of 
thinking.  He  was  afraid  that,  in  case  of  reunion, 
there  would  be  a  French  Pope  chosen  and  that  then  he 
would  have  to  give  way  to  a  French  king.  He  there- 
fore did  all  he  could  to  keep  the  Pope  from  going  to 
the  appointed  rendezvous  and  worried  him  by  con- 
stant assaults  against  Rome. 

However,  that  very  slow-moving  body,  the  papal 
court,  was  at  last  got  in  motion,  and  on  August  9, 
1407,  Pope  Gregory  set  out  for  Vitcrbo ;  but  it  took 
him  until  September  to  get  as  far  as  Siena,  the  meet- 
ing at  Savona  having  been  arranged  to  take  place  at 
some  time  between  Michaelmas  and  All-.saints.  Then 
Gregory  began  to  make  excuses,  and  a  long  roll  they 


I20   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

were.  You  can  judge  him  either  a  hypocrite  or  a  ter- 
rorized old  man ;  testimony  is  about  even  for  either 
side.  He  said  he  had  no  galleys  equal  to  those  of 
Benedict,  that  the  district  through  which  he  had  to 
travel  was  not  safe,  that  he  was  out  of  funds — in 
fine,  he  had  twenty-two  formal  objections  to  going 
to  Savona,  and  all  the  while  his  clergy  and  his  monks 
were  preaching  at  him  with  all  their  lungs.  He  was 
a  coward,  they  said,  and  a  traitor,  and  Benedict  was 
on  the  lookout  to  murder  him  and  all  his  cardinals. 

Gregory  got  as  far  as  Lucca,  and  Benedict,  on  the 
other  hand,  advanced  to  Porto  Venere  and  then  to 
Spezzia.  They  were  now  only  fifteen  leagues  apart, 
and  the  whole  of  Christendom  looked  with  shame  on 
these  two  old  men  parrying  and  eluding,  and  each  so 
afraid  to  give  up  his  power.  Very  pungent  things 
were  said  about  them  both.  Leonard  of  Arezzo  says 
it  was  as  if  one  Pope,  like  a  land  animal,  refused  to 
approach  the  shore,  and  the  other,  like  a  water  animal, 
would  not  leave  the  sea;  and  our  old  friend.  Von 
Niem,  says  they  were  like  two  knights  having  a  sham 
fight  in  a  tilting-ground ;  they  appeared  in  earnest, 
but  it  was  all  display.  St.  Antonino  gives  Benedict 
a  pretty  hard  character ;  he  says  :  "  Benedict,  although 
a  learned  man,  was  the  most  crafty  and  shifty  of 
mortals.  In  his  sharp  tricks  he  was  like  an  eel  escap- 
ing from  clasping  hands,  slippery  and  versatile.  On 
the  other  hand,  Gregory  was  hke  an  innocent  lamb, 
like  a  dove  without  venom."  Then,  again,  in  more 
biting  words  about  the  two:  "They  were  hke  the 
two  elders  in  the  history  of  Susanna,  from  whom  ini- 
quity went  forth," 


The  University  and  the  Popes  Bull,     i  2  i 


The  spring  of  1408  saw  the  two  popes,  one  at 
Spezzia,  the  other  at  Lucca,  each  endeavoring  to 
outmanoeuvre  the  other  and  each  with  his  own  trials. 
Benedict  was  well  aware  that  his  chief  support,  the 
kingdom  of  France,  was  getting  very  weary  of  the 
long-drawn-out  game  of  shameful  cunning,  but  he 
seems  to  have  thought  that  the  distracted  state  of 
the  kingdom,  the  constant  insanity  of  the  king,  and 
the  factions  of  Burgundy  and  Armagnac  would  pre- 
vent any  steps  being  taken  against  him.  He  heard 
the  mutterings  and  threats  that  he  would  be  deserted  ; 
but  he  was  arrogant  and  blind  enough  to  issue  two 
bulls  attacking  the  King  of  France  and  the  university, 
which  was  a  great  power  in  France,  threatening  them 
with  excommunication  and  the  kingdom  with  inter- 
dict. These  bulls,  however,  only  infuriated  the 
French. 

The  king  summoned  an  assembly  at  Paris,  and  the 
preacher  at  the  opening  session  charged  Benedict 
with  heresy  and  schism  and  branded  him  as  an  enemy 
of  Christ.  The  assembly  declared  the  two  bulls  of 
Benedict  to  be  illegal  and  treasonable,  and  Charles 
commanded  his  chancellor,  the  famous  Gerson,  to  do 
what  he  liked  with  them.  He  ripped  them  in  two 
and  gave  the  princes  one  half  and  the  university  the 
other,  and  both  parties  tore  them  to  atoms.  The 
Pope's  messengers  were  treated  with  the  greatest  in- 
dignity, dressed  in  fantastic  costumes,  and  mounted 
on  a  high  scaffold  for  the  derision  of  all  the  populace. 
The  die  was  cast ;  the  neutrality  of  France  was  pro- 
claimed to  the  world,  the  long  and  fateful  spell  of  a 
French  Pope  was  broken,  and  the  first  really  valuable 


122   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

step  taken  in  the  mending  of  the  rent  garment  of  the 
church. 

The  French  marshal,  Boucicauh,  was  ordered  to 
seize  Benedict,  but  the  Pope  was  too  quick  for  him. 
His  galleys  lay  at  anchor  at  Porto  Venere,  and  as  soon 
as  he  got  wind  of  what  was  intended  he  set  sail  and 
was  soon  at  Perpignan,  in  the  kingdom  of  Aragon. 
The  master  mind  in  the  attainment  of  this  great  de- 
cision from  the  French  church  and  nation  was  Gerson, 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  Frenchmen  in  any  age. 
He  was  most  active  and  conspicuous  in  this  whole 
matter  of  the  schism  and  was  one  of  the  principal 
figures  in  the  councils  of  Pisa  and  Constance.  Some 
notice  of  his  life  and  works  will  not  be  out  of  place 
here. 

John  Gerson,  or,  perhaps  better,  John  Charlier,  was 
born  at  Gerson,  near  Rheims,  December  14,  1363. 
He  was  brought  up  by  devout  parents  and  when 
fourteen  was  sent  to  the  University  of  Paris.  His 
great  talents  soon  attracted  attention,  and  at  twenty 
he  was  elected  procurator.  In  1387,  when  twenty- 
four,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  ambassadors  to  Avig- 
non in  the  matter  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and 
from  that  time  devoted  his  great  abilities  to  the  ele- 
vation of  the  tone  of  the  clergy  and  the  university  and 
to  the  putting  an  end  to  the  schism.  He  became  when 
only  thirty-two  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris, 
one  of  the  highest  honors  that  could  befall  a  French- 
man. He  was  a  most  prolific  writer,  and  no  one  now 
would  have  the  courage  to  wade  through  all  his 
treatises,  but  they  are  easily  divided  into  three  parts: 
the  improvement  of  the  university  studies,  the  matter 


Views  of  Gcrson.  123 

of  the  schism,  and,  in  later  years,  devotional  and 
spiritual  writings.  He  labored  diligently  to  supplant 
the  foolish  and  idle  questions  over  which  the  school- 
men split  hairs,  by  the  study  of  the  Bible  and  the 
fathers. 

He  held  the  doctrine,  which  is  most  reasonable  and 
catholic,  that  a  general  council  could  be  summoned 
without  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  that  the  au- 
thority of  the  church  resides  in  the  whole  body  of  the 
episcopate.  He  held,  indeed,  that  in  a  case  of  emer- 
gency a  council  could  be  summoned  by  faithful  lay- 
men. Perhaps  the  word  "  Gallican "  will  sum  up 
better  than  any  other  the  general  trend  of  his  views. 
They  were  entirely  hostile  to  the  arrogant  papal  pre- 
tensions. For  a  long  while  he  was  thought  to  have 
been  the  author,  or  at  least  the  adapter  from  the 
Latin,  of  the  famous  "  Imitatio  Christi,"  but  more 
profound  research  has  fixed  its  authorship  on  Thomas 
a  Kempis. 

While  these  proceedings  were  going  on  against 
Benedict,  Gregory  was  in  no  better  plight.  His  own 
city  of  Rome  was  in  the  hands  of  the  ever-busy  King 
of  Naples,  who  declared  that  he  came  there  to  protect 
the  Pope's  interests,  and  under  that  cloak  he  seized 
city  after  city  of  the  Popedom. 

The  cardinals  were  constantly  reminding  Gregory 
of  his  promise  to  resign  and  the  swelling  words  he 
had  uttered  on  that  subject.  They  tried  to  bribe 
him ;  offered  him  the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople, 
two  Venetian  bishoprics,  and  the  bishopric  of  Exeter 
(Milman  says  the  archbishopric  of  York)  if  he  would 
give  up  the  contest.      Suddenly  he  took  a  new  tack 


124    ^-^^^  -^^^^  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  broke  all  his  promises  by  declaring  his  intention 
to  create  four  new  cardinals.  The  Sacred  College 
protested  loudly,  vowed  they  would  not  recognize 
any  such  cardinals,  and  made  ready  to  flee  away  from 
Lucca.  The  Pope  forbade  their  going,  but  the  Lord 
of  Lucca  took  their  part,  and  shielded  them  from 
papal  violence ;  so  that,  with  the  exception  of  those 
who  were  sick,  they  all  reached  Pisa  in  safety,  where, 
on  the  14th  of  May,  1408,  they  pubhshed  a  bitter 
letter  against  the  Pope,  in  which  they  reminded  him 
of  the  words  he  had  used  at  his  coronation — "  that 
he  would  go  on  foot  with  his  pilgrim's  staff  if  it  would 
reunite  the  church." 

Four  cardinals  of  Benedict's  following  stole  away 
from  Perpignan,  and  the  Gregorian  cardinals  came 
from  Pisa  to  Leghorn  to  meet  them,  so  that  in  Leg- 
horn there  were  gathered  from  both  obediences,  as 
they  were  called,  fifteen  cardinals,  and  soon  after  five 
others  joined  them,  and  these  twenty  issued  a  call  for 
a  general  council  to  be  held  at  Pisa  in  March  of  the 
following  year.  The  universities  of  Paris,  Bologna, 
Florence,  with  others,  signified  their  full  approval 
and  their  conviction  that  such  a  measure  was  perfectly 
legal.  In  the  letters  which  the  cardinals  wrote  to  the 
sovereigns  and  the  universities  they  did  not  spare 
either  of  the  old  men  .who  were  struggling  to  keep 
the  tiara.  They  showered  upon  them  most  liberally 
the  choicest  terms  of  vituperation  and  compared  them 
to  the  Roman  soldiers  dividing  the  seamless  robe  of 
Christ.  "  Perjurers  and  liars  "  were  also  among  the 
titles  with  which  they  greeted  their  former  masters 
and  spiritual  lords. 


Vaifi  Attempts  to  Hold  Councils.      125 

Tlie  old  popes  did  not  take  very  kindly  to  this  idea 
of  a  general  council,  and  they  resoKed  to  anticipate 
it  by  holding  councils  of  their  own.  Benedict  sum- 
moned one  at  Perpignan,  and  quite  a  number  of  prel- 
ates attended  ;  but  they  soon  got  to  quarrelling,  and  the 
council  dwindled  away  to  eighteen  members.  This  little 
remnant  advised  unanimously  the  resignation  of  Bene- 
dict, or  at  least  that  he  should  send  representatives 
to  Pisa.  The  Pope  flew  into  a  furious  rage,  and  as 
Perpignan  was  getting  too  hot  to  hold  him,  he  retired 
to  the  Castle  of  Penlscola  and  there  brooded  over 
what  he  thought  were  his  rights  and  wrongs.  Greg- 
ory had  hard  work  to  find  a  place  for  his  council. 
He  could  not  have  it  in  Rome,  for  that  was  in  the 
power  of  the  King  of  Naples,  who  professed,  indeed, 
to  be  Gregory's  friend,  but  he  had  slipped  his  leash 
so  often  that  the  Pope  could  not  trust  him.  The 
Pope  tried  Florence,  Bologna,  Venice  (his  own  city), 
Ravenna,  Capua,  but  all  turned  a  deaf  ear;  and  at 
last  in  a  little  Venetian  town  in  the  Friuli  a  few  bish- 
ops were  got  together,  but  it  amounted  to  nothing, 
and  nobody  took  any  notice  of  it. 

The  fact  was  that  Christendom  in  the  West  was 
tired  out  with  the  shiftings  and  delays  of  these  two 
old  men,  and  their  adherents  now  were  principally 
among  those  whose  incomes  depended  directly  on 
them.  They  were  very  different  men.  Gregory 
XII.  had  been  chosen  because  he  was  so  very  old 
that  the  cardinals  thought  he  would  only  hold  to- 
gether long  enough  for  them  to  feather  their  own 
nests  and  arrange  their  own  futures.  He  was  a  mere 
puppet  pulled  about  by  his  relations  and  his  cardinals 


126   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  the  troublesome  King  of  Naples,  but  nothing  can 
be  said  against  his  character;  he  simply  had  not 
strength  enough  to  grapple  with  the  enormous  diffi- 
culties of  his  position.  Benedict  XIII.  was  a  much 
stronger  man,  courageous  and  determined  to  uphold 
the  honor  of  the  Papacy.  He  had  to  take  a  great 
deal  of  bad  language  from  the  universities,  and  it 
rankled  within  him.  His  conduct  was  always  scru- 
pulously correct,  and  in  ordinary  times  he  would  have 
made  an  excellent  Pope,  for  he  had  many  of  the 
characteristics  of  a  great  church  statesman,  but  he 
too  was  the  victim  of  circumstances.  He  was  at- 
tempting to  fill  an  impossible  position,  and  until  the 
very  last,  when  his  temper  entirely  gave  way  and  he 
showed  foolish  and  useless  anger,  he  calls  for  our  pity 
and  often  for  our  admiration. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE    COUNCIL    OF    PISA. 

T  was  a  great  boon  for  Pisa  that  the  coun- 
cil was  appointed  to  meet  within  her  walls. 
She  had  as  a  city  met  with  hard  luck. 
Her  trade  had  fallen  off,  and,  once  first 
among  the  Italian  centres  of  commerce, 
she  was  now  in  importance  below  both  Genoa  and 
Florence.  It  would  not  be  long  before  she  would 
fall  into  the  jaws  of  Florence,  already  open  to  devour 
her.  It  seemed  then  like  a  return  of  the  old  glory 
to  be  chosen  as  the  meeting-place  of  a  great  council. 
The  council  met  in  the  beautiful  cathedral  which  has 
filled  so  many  travellers  with  admiration.  It  arrests 
even  the  attention  of  the  American  most  sated  with 
foreign  churches,  for  it  is  so  noble,  so  quietly  beauti- 
ful, and  with  so  little  of  meretricious  display.  Close 
by  it  is  the  graceful  baptistery  and  that  wonderful 
leaning  tower  of  which  architects  yet  debate  whether 
it  leans  from  purpose  or  from  accident.  Hard  by  is 
the  exquisite  Gothic  cloister  of  John  of  Pisa,  which 
surrounds  the  Campo  Santo,  on  the  walls  of  which 
the  greatest  painters  of  the  Siena  school  had  painted 
the  drama  of  human  life.     All  these  buildings  were 

127 


128    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

generally  as  we  see  them  now  when  the  council  was 
opened  on  Lady- day,  March  25,  1409. 

The  procession  formed  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Michael  and  wound  through  the  crooked  streets  to 
the  cathedral.  The  numbers  in  attendance  made  it 
very  imposing.  According  to  D'Achery,  there  were 
present  twenty-two  cardinals  of  both  obediences,  four 
patriarchs,  ten  archbishops,  sixty-nine  bishops,  while 
thirteen  archbishops  and  eighty-two  bishops  sent 
proctors.  There  were  present  sixty  priors,  the  gen- 
erals of  the  Dominicans,  Franciscans,  Carmelites,  and 
Augustinians,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Hospitallers, 
and  the  Prior  of  the  Teutonic  Knights,  besides  one 
hundred  and  nine  representatives  of  collegiate  and 
cathedral  chapters.  Ambassadors  were  sent  by 
Wenzel,  King  of  the  Romans,  by  the  kings  of  Eng- 
land, France,  Sicily,  Poland,  and  Cyprus,  by  the 
dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brabant,  Cleves,  Bavaria, 
Pomerania,  the  Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  the  Margrave 
of  Brandenburg,  the  universities  of  Paris,  Toulouse, 
Angers,  Montpellier,  Vienna,  Prague,  Cologne,  Cra- 
cow, Bologna,  Cambridge,  and  Oxford.  One  hundred 
and  twenty-three  doctors  of  theology  and  two  hun- 
dred doctors  of  law  lent  the  weight  of  their  learning, 
and  at  least  ten  thousand  strangers  visited  Pisa  dur- 
ing the  council. 

It  was  a  strange  spectacle,  that  which  the  Council 
of  Pisa  presented  to  the  Christian  world.  It  could 
hardly  believe  in  itself,  for  councils  had  for  centu- 
ries been  only  summoned  by  the  Pope,  or  presided 
over  by  him  or  his  deputies.  This  council  had  been 
summoned  by  cardinals,  and  although  it  was  very 


Basic  Principles  of  Council  of  Pisa.    129 

largely  attended,  yet  there  are  certain  flaws  in  its 
action  and  certain  anomalies  in  its  conclusions  which 
have  prevented  its  having  that  weight  with  historians, 
especially  those  who  are  Roman  Catholic,  to  which 
it  would  seem  entitled.  As  has  been  already  said, 
the  doctrine  of  Gerson  was  its  foundation :  "  If  the 
Vicar  of  Christ  be  corporally  or  civilly  dead,  then  the 
church,  to  provide  itself  with  a  head,  has  the  right  to 
assemble  in  general  council,  not  ^^nly  by  the  authority 
of  the  cardinals,  but  by  the  aid  and  support  of  every 
Christian  prince."  Peter  d'Ailly  also  gave  an  opinion  : 
•'  From  Christ,  its  head,  the  church  has  the  authority 
to  come  together  or  to  summon  a  council  to  preserve 
its  unity.  Christ's  words  are :  '  Where  two  or  three 
are  gathered  together  in  My  name,  there  am  I  in  the 
midst.'  He  said  not  'in  the  name  of  Peter,'  or  'in 
the  name  of  the  Pope,'  but  '  in  My  name.'  " 

This  all  seems  to  us  self-evident,  but  at  that  time 
it  had  only  been  heard  in  studies  and  university 
lecture-rooms;  but  this  terrible  schism  brought  out 
all  such  doctrines  now  and  aired  them  before  all  the 
world.  Everybody  felt  that  if  this  council  could  get 
its  decisions  accepted  the  emergency  would  justify 
any  irregularity  in  the  way  in  which  it  had  been 
called.  To  get  it  fully  accepted,  then,  would  be  the 
rub,  and  it  never  was  universally  accepted ;  for  cer- 
tain rulings  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  which  came 
after  it,  show  that  that  council  was  not  much  guided 
by  its  predecessor,  although  it  reached  the  same  con- 
clusions. 

The  president  of  the  Council  of  Pisa  was  the  Car- 
dinal of  Poitiers,  chosen  probably  because  he'was  the 


130    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

only  cardinal  who  had  not  been  created  during  the 
schism  ;  his  title  was  clear,  no  matter  what  other  titles 
might  be.  The  creed  or  profession  of  faith  was  read 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa,  and  it  ended  with  a  dec- 
laration far  too  sweeping  to  go  down  in  this  our 
more  tolerant  day :  "  Every  heretic  and  schismatic 
must  share  with  the  devil  and  his  angels  the  burning 
of  eternal  fire,  unless  before  the  end  of  his  life  he  be 
restored  to  the  Cathohc  Church." 

The  advocate,  Simon  of  Perugia,  asked  that  the 
summons  to  the  two  rival  popes  be  read,  and  with 
very  ill-timed  levity  he  spoke  of  them  as  "  Benefic- 
tus  "  and  "Errorius."  Indeed,  the  literature  of  the 
council  abounds  not  only  in  levity,  but  in  coarseness. 
There  are  lampoons  and  satires  extant  about  Gregory 
and  his  cardinals  which  are  too  filthy  and  indecent  to 
be  reprinted  in  our  day.  The  two  old  pontiffs  had 
so  disgusted  everybody  that  there  was  nothing  too 
bad  to  say  of  them.  As  in  courts  of  law,  oflficers  at 
the  doors  of  the  cathedral  summoned  Peter  di  Luna 
and  Angelo  Corario  to  appear  and  answer  to  the 
charges  against  them.  Three  days  this  farce  was  re- 
peated, and  the  absent  popes  were  then  pronounced 
in  contumacy. 

At  the  fourth  session  of  the  council  opposition 
showed  itself.  Four  bishops  appeared  on  the  part  of 
Rupert,  Emperor  of  Germany,  though  Wenceslas  also 
claimed  that  title,  and  fighting  was  going  on  about  it. 
Rupert,  through  these  prelates,  propounded  twenty- 
two  objections  to  the  council,  most  of  which  were  dry 
technicalities,  splitting  of  hairs,  etc.  April  24th  was 
fixed  as  the  time  for  answering  them,  but  the  deputa- 


The  Sente7ice  of  the  Rival  Popes.      1 3 1 


tion  was  evidently  frightened  at  what  it  heard  and 
saw,  and,  concluding  that  Gregory  would  stand  no 
chance,  quietly  stole  away  and  was  heard  of  no  more. 

An  answer  was  made  at  great  length  by  the  council 
on  May  4th,  but  the  point  of  the  legality  of  the  meet- 
ing was  dropped  for  the  safer  ground  set  forth  by 
Gerson,  D'Ailly,  and  the  universities,  that  the  emer- 
gency justified  the  occasion.  On  the  24th  of  April 
the  charges  against  the  two  popes  were  read  from  a 
document  which  consumed  three  hours  in  the  reading. 
It  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  cardinals,  and  it  glided 
skilfully  over  their  persistence  in  continuing  the  elec- 
tion of  popes  and  bore  down  very  hard  on  the  ob- 
stinacy of  the  popes  themselves.  Then  the  taking 
of  testimony  began ;  but  the  council  got  very  weary 
of  that  after  a  few  days,  and  declared  that  the  matters 
in  question  were  facts  of  public  notoriety. 

In  the  eighth  session.  May  loth,  a  decree  was 
passed  stating  that  the  cardinals  created  by  both 
popes  had  withdrawn  their  allegiance  from  them  and 
were  now  united  together,  that  they  pronounced  the 
council  duly  assembled  as  representative  of  the  uni- 
versal church  and  with  authority  to  settle  the  schism. 
On  the  5th  of  June  Peter  di  Luna  and  Angelo  Cora- 
rio  were  again  summoned  at  the  gates,  and  appeared 
not.  The  cathedral  doors  were  then  thrown  open, 
and  the  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  with  the  patriarchs 
of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem  on  either  side  of  him,  stood 
in  the  doorway  and  read  the  sentence  of  the  council. 
It  condemned  both  Benedict  and  Gregory  to  be  de- 
posed, pronounced  invalid  all  their  decisions  and  all 
their  nominations  of  cardinals  for  a  year  past,  and 


132    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

declared  that  if  they  would  not  aid  in  healing  the 
division  they  should  be  handed  over  to  the  secular 
power. 

Milman  well  says  of  this :  "  Such  was  the  first 
solemn,  deliberate,  authoritative  act  by  which  a  gen- 
eral council  assumed  a  power  superior  to  the  Papacy 
and  broke  the  long  tradition  of  the  indefensible,  irre- 
sponsible autocracy  of  the  Pope  throughout  Christen- 
dom. It  assumed  a  dictatorial  right  in  a  representative 
body  of  the  church  to  sit  as  a  judicial  tribunal,  with 
cognizance  of  the  title  by  which  papal  authority  was 
exercised,  of  offences  committed  by  prelates  claiming 
to  be  popes,  and  to  pronounce  in  the  last  instance  on 
the  validity  of  their  acts.  It  went  much  beyond  a 
decision  in  a  contested  election ;  it  was  the  cashiering 
of  both  popes,  and  that  not  on  account  of  irregularity 
or  invalidity  of  title,  but  of  crimes  and  excesses 
subject  to  ecclesiastical  censure.  It  was  a  sentence 
of  deprivation  and  deposition,  not  of  uncanonical 
election." 

Of  course  the  cardinals  could  not  take  the  last- 
mentioned  ground,  for  it  would  have  upset  their  own 
positions.  If  they  granted  that  the  popes  had  been 
uncanonically  elected,  then  of  course  they  were  un- 
canonically  created.  The  proclamation  of  the  sentence 
was  an  occasion  of  great  joy.  All  the  bells  were  set 
ringing,  and  village  after  village  took  up  the  chime, 
so  that,  it  is  said,  the  news  was  known  in  Florence 
within  three  hours. 

Now  that  the  old  popes  were  disposed  of,  it  was  of 
the  first  necessity  to  choose  a  new  one ;  the  church 
must  not  be  left  without  a  head,  and  the  question, 


The  Election  of  Alexander   V.        133 

"  How  to  do  it,"  was  a  most  delicate  one.  The  car- 
dinals could  not  consent  that  the  council  in  its  cor- 
porate capacity  should  do  this,  for  that  would  be  to 
renounce  their  most  coveted  privilege,  and  would  be 
likely  to  lead  to  great  disputes  and  complications  all 
over  Christendom.  This  the  prelates  and  doctors  as- 
sembled soon  realized,  and  there  was  but  little  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  the  choice  should  be  left  solely  to 
the  cardinals.  They,  however,  put  forth  a  paper  in 
which  they  all  bound  themselves,  in  case  one  of  their 
number  should  be  chosen  Pope,  not  to  dissolve  the 
council  until  (Mansi)  "  a  rational  and  sufficient  ref- 
ormation of  the  church,  both  in  its  head  and  its 
members,  shall  have  been  accomplished." 

Benedict  still  had  a  few  supporters  in  Europe,  and 
the  King  of  Aragon  sent  ambassadors  to  insist  that 
the  envoys  from  that  Pope  should  be  heard  in  the 
council.  They  were  allowed  to  state  their  case,  but  as 
soon  as  their  spokesman  said,  "  We  come  from  Pope 
Benedict,"  there  were  everywhere  cries,  "  He  is  a 
heretic  and  schismatic;"  and  as  a  riot  was  rapidly 
arising,  the  envoys  left  the  council  with  an  arrow  in 
their  side  from  Cardinal  Cossa,  who  said,  "  If  you 
come  into  my  legation,  I  will  burn  you  alive." 

This  action  of  the  council  was  unwise,  for  the  en- 
voys were  prepared  to  hand  in  Benedict's  resignation, 
no  matter  whether  Gregory  resigned  or  not.  On  the 
15th  of  June,  1409,  the  cardinals,  at  full  liberty  and 
under  no  conditions,  entered  into  conclave  at  the 
archbishop's  palace.  The  account  of  the  number 
varies;  Milman  says  twenty-six,  Creighton  twenty- 
four,    Robertson    twenty-two.      Their    deliberations 


134    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

were  kept  very  secret.  They  undoubtedly  would 
have  preferred  to  choose  Cossa,  the  ablest  among 
them;  but  he  did  not  think  his  time  had  come,  and 
he  persuaded  them  to  elect  Peter  Philargi,  Cardinal 
Archbishop  of  Milan,  a  Greek  by  birth,  and  a  found- 
ling without  a  relation  in  the  world.  A  Franciscan 
friar  had  taken  him  when  a  beggar  boy,  and  had  him 
carefully  educated  in  that  order.  He  had  studied  at 
both  Oxford  and  Paris,  was  a  well-read  theologian, 
and  a  man  of  stainless  character. 

He  was  a  compromise  candidate  and  was  as  good 
a  choice  as  the  conclave  could  have  made,  one  great 
recommendation  to  his  brother  cardinals  being  that 
he  was  over  seventy  and  could  not  hope  to  reign  very 
long.  He  took  the  name  of  Alexander  V.  This  was 
on  June  26th,  and  on  July  1st  he  preached  before  the 
council,  and  had  a  decree  read  approving  of  all  that 
the  cardinals  had  done  up  to  the  opening  of  the 
council,  declaring  that  all  the  cardinals  of  both  obedi- 
ences were  true  cardinals,  and  that  if  there  was  any 
defect  in  their  titles  he  as  Pope  pronounced  it  healed. 
There  began  now  forthwith  the  insistence  of  many 
of  the  prominent  members  of  the  council  on  under- 
taking the  reform  of  the  church,  but  the  cardinals 
dodged  the  question.  It  was  set  for  July  20th,  then 
for  the  24th,  then  for  the  27th,  and  on  the  7th  of 
August  the  Pope  dissolved  the  council,  deferring  all 
reforms  to  the  future  council,  which  it  was  decreed 
should  be  summoned  by  the  Pope  in  April,  141 2. 

So  ended  this  important  gathering,  which,  while  it 
had  ventilated  quite  thoroughly  the  great  question  as 
to  which  was  the  supreme  authority  in  the  church, 


Three  Popes  now  over  the  Church.    135 


the  Pope  or  a  general  council,  had  really  done  noth- 
ing towards  putting  an  end  to  the  great  schism  which 
had  been  so  long  the  bane  of  the  church.  The  only 
result  was  that  there  had  been  two  popes  before,  and 
now  there  were  three;  as  a  writer  of  the  times 
makes  the  church  say,  "  Bivira  fueram  ;  triviram  fue- 
runt"  ("I  had  two  husbands  before;  now  they  have 
made  me  triple-husbanded  ").  Both  the  rival  popes 
were  so  old,  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  waited 
until  their  decease ;  then  the  schism  would  have  died 
a  natural  death. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ALEXANDER    V. 

HE  new  Pope  was,  as  has  been  said,  learned 
and  of  spotless  life,  but  he  had  very  little 
firmness  and  was  entirely  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  able  and  unscrupulous  Cardi- 
nal Cossa,  to  whom  he  owed  his  election. 
He  had  no  relations,  and  so  it  was  thought  he  would 
not  fall  into  the  usual  papal  fault  of  nepotism,  but  he 
soon  made  it  evident  to  all  the  world  that  the  whole 
Franciscan  order  were  his  relations,  and  that  he  in- 
tended them  to  have  a  full  share  of  all  the  good  things 
he  had  to  give  away ;  and  "  giving  away  "was  Alexan- 
der's fatal  weakness.  He  said  of  himself,  "  I  was  rich 
as  a  bishop,  poor  as  a  cardinal,  and  a  beggar  as  Pope." 
But  it  was  not  so  much  what  he  gave  his  fellow-monks 
that  aroused  the  indignation  of  Europe,  especially  of 
France,  as  the  bull  he  pubHshed  in  their  favor.  The 
mendicant  orders  had  been  steadily  rising  in  the  scale. 
They  were  stirring  preachers,  very  democratic,  and 
most  self-sacrificing  in  times  of  plague  and  war.  The 
common  people  were  thoroughly  devoted  to  them, 
and  the  friars  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
They  thrust  themselves  into  every  parish,  heard  con- 

136 


The  Me7idicant  Friars.  137 


fessions,  administered  the  sacraments,  married  and 
buried,  without  the  sHghtest  consideration  of  the 
parish  priests,  who,  as  a  matter  of  course,  held  them 
in  holy  horror. 

The  system  of  the  church  must  rest  on  the  parishes, 
and  the  rights  of  parish  priests  must  be  carefully  de- 
fined in  order  that  there  may  be  regularity  and  law- 
ful obedience.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  have  this 
settled  now,  and  it  was  just  as  necessary  then,  and 
we  cannot  help  siding  thoroughly  with  the  parish 
priests  and  the  diocesan  bishops.  The  former  saw 
themselves  gradually  supplanted  in  the  afTections 
of  their  flocks  by  a  set  of  wandering  friars,  to 
whom,  of  course,  a  sinner  would  a  great  deal  rather 
confess  (as  he  would  probably  never  see  him  again) 
than  to  his  parish  priest,  who  knew  him  and  would 
keep  an  eye  on  him.  The  bishops  were  driven  nearly 
to  distraction  by  the  constant  disputes  and  questions 
arising  between  the  regular  clergy  and  the  friars. 

These  pushing  fellows  were  everywhere,  and  even 
the  universities  were  being  fast  captured  by  them; 
able,  eloquent,  and  often  well  read,  they  wormed 
themselves  into  the  best  chairs  and  boldly  proclaimed 
their  own  views.  This  was  not  done  without  many 
a  hard  fight  of  words.  William  of  St.  Amour,  in  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  protested  in  the 
most  pointed  way  against  them,  "  For  an  able-bodied 
man  who  can  work  for  his  living  to  live  ofT  the  poor 
is  sacrilege,  for  St.  Paul  says, '  If  a  man  will  not  work, 
neither  let  him  eat.'  Monks  say,"  he  continues, 
"  that  it  is  a  counsel  of  perfection  to  live  like  Christ; 
but  Christ  teaches  us  to  work,  not  beg.     If  any  one 


138    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

wants  to  be  perfect,  he  must  either  go  to  work  in  the 
world,  or  go  into  a  monastery  and  hve  out  of  the 
world."  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  and  St.  Bonaventura 
defended  the  friars,  and  so  the  battle  went  on. 

The  popes  had  tried  to  do  justice.  Boniface  VIII., 
in  1300,  had  decreed  that  no  friar  could  preach  in  a 
parish  church  without  the  consent  of  the  rector.  It 
seems  wonderful  to  us  that  any  such  decree  could  be 
necessary.  By  this  decree  the  bishops  were  to  have 
the  power  of  forbidding  any  friar  from  hearing  con- 
fessions in  his  diocese,  and  any  friar  performing  any 
service  in  a  parish  for  which  he  was  paid  was  bound 
to  hand  over  one  fourth  of  the  fee  to  the  parish 
church.  At  the  time  of  Alexander's  election  these 
two  bodies,  the  regular  clergy  and  the  friars,  were  like 
two  hostile  armies,  each  one  hoping  for  some  great 
advantage ;  but  the  friars  saw  that  their  time  had 
come.  One  of  their  own  kidney  had  now  mounted 
the  papal  throne,  who,  it  was  well  known,  was  a 
thorough  mendicant,  heart  and  soul ;  so,  hastening 
to  Pisa,  they  procured  from  Alexander,  October  12, 
1409,  a  bull  called  "  Regnans  in  Ecclesia,"  which 
completely  knocked  the  bottom  out  of  any  right  still 
remaining  to  the  parochial  clergy. 

This  bull  gave  the  preaching  friars,  the  Minorites, 
Carmelites,  and  Augustinians,  full  and  uncontrolled 
power  to  hear  confessions  in  every  parish  in  Christen- 
dom. The  Pope  rubbed  in  the  insult,  for  he  ordered 
all  the  clergy  to  read  this  bull  to  the  people  from  the 
steps  of  their  own  altars,  and  thus  proclaim  to  the 
universe  their  downfall  and  the  complete  triumph  of 
their  adversaries.     It  was  a  bitter  dose  for  a  rector 


The  Btill  "  Regnans  in  E  celesta"     139 


to  have  to  say,  "  I  am  no  longer  master  in  my  own 
house,  but  must  share  my  rectorship  with  the  first 
friar  any  man  fancies."  For  a  Pope  elected  to  make 
peace,  this  bull  was  about  as  imprudent  a  move  as 
could  have  been  made.  The  hubbub  it  immediately 
aroused  was  tremendous,  and  the  friars  were  soon 
quaking  before  the  hornets'  nest  they  had  stirred  up. 

The  University  of  Paris  immediately  sent  deputies 
to  Pisa,  who  were  to  insist  on  seeing  the  original  bull, 
for  they  could  not  believe  their  ears.  The  deputies 
came  and  interviewed  the  cardinals,  who  one  and  all 
said,  "  We  were  not  consulted  about  this  bull ;  we  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  we  take  no  responsibility 
for  it."  The  original  bull  with  its  leaden  seal  {bulla) 
was  shown  them,  and,  angry  enough,  they  went  back 
to  Paris  and  reported  that  the  bull  was  indeed  genu- 
ine. The  university  immediately  proceeded  to  expel 
all  mendicants  from  its  walls,  and  to  prohibit  their 
preaching  in  Paris.  Dominicans  and  Carmelites 
hastened  to  say  that  they  had  wanted  no  such  bull 
and  had  no  use  for  it.  The  Franciscans  attempted 
to  carry  it  out,  but  a  royal  proclamation  forbade  any 
parish  priest  allowing  friars  to  preach  or  hear  confes- 
sions in  the  parish  churches.  Many  universities 
adopted  like  measures,  and  one  of  the  very  first 
things  Alexander's  successor  had  to  do  was  to  repeal 
this  obnoxious  document  and  restore  things  to  the 
status  quo  ante. 

The  great  question  now  agitating  Italy  was  the 
mastership  of  the  States  of  the  Church.  It  was  ab- 
solutely vital  for  the  new  Pope  to  get  possession  of 
the  city  of  Rome  if  he  was  to  retain  any  temporal 


140   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

authority  at  all  in  the  peninsula.  Cossa,  the  Pope's 
dictator,  felt  and  understood  that  thoroughly,  and  he 
prepared  himself  to  march  against  Ladislas,  King  of 
Naples,  who  held  the  imperial  city.  The  king's  lieu- 
tenant, Orsini,  deserted  him,  and  the  papal  troops 
got  possession  first  of  the  Vatican  and  its  quarter, 
and,  after  many  marchings  and  countermarchings,  of 
the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo  and  the  rest  of  the  city.  The 
people  were  glad  enough  to  be  free  from  the  rule  of 
Naples  and  to  return  to  their  old  municipal  elections. 
Meanwhile  the  Pope  had  lingered  in  Pisa,  waiting  for 
the  clearing  of  the  way  to  Rome,  but  the  plague 
breaking  out  there,  he  retreated  to  Prato  and  then  to 
Pistoja.  He  would  like  to  have  gone  on  to  Rome 
after  it  was  conquered  for  him,  but  his  master,  Cossa, 
objected,  for  he  wished  to  be  the  first  man  in  Rome, 
and  he  induced  the  Pope  to  undertake  in  the  middle 
of  winter  the  very  hard  and  dangerous  journey  over 
the  Apennines  to  Bologna,  the  capital  of  Cossa's  lega- 
tion, where  Alexander  settled  himself  at  Cossa's  ex- 
pense, it  is  said. 

He  was  not,  however,  to  settle  anywhere  for  very 
long,  for  he  grew  very  ill  towards  the  end  of  April, 
and  felt  that  his  end  was  drawing  near.  Dietrich  von 
Niem,  who  is  still  chronicling  papal  doings,  says,  "  Our 
lord  the  Pope,  on  his  bed  of  sickness,  in  the  presence 
of  all  the  cardinals,  preached  us  a  beautiful  Latin 
sermon  from  the  text,  '  Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My 
peace  I  give  unto  you,'  and  begged  all  present  to 
relax  no  effort  to  restore  peace  and  unity  to  the 
church."  All  who  heard  him  burst  into  weeping  over 
his  earnest  words,  and  so  on  the  3d  of  May,  1410,  he 


Death  of  Alexander.  141 


died,  and  lies  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Francis  at 
Bologna,  a  true  Franciscan  monk  in  a  Franciscan 
church. 

As  usual,  his  death  was  attributed  to  poison  ad- 
ministered by  order  of  Cossa,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
charges  made  against  that  person  at  the  Council  of 
Constance  ;  but  Hefele,  who  has  thoroughly  examined 
the  charge,  concludes  that  it  rests  on  no  foundation. 
Alexander  enjoyed  the  Popedom  too  short  a  time  to 
show  what  his  real  worth  in  that  position  would  have 
been,  but  as  Cossa  dictated  all  his  actions,  it  is  prob- 
able he  would  have  continued  to  do  so  if  the  Pope 
had  lived  longer. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

JOHN    XXIII. 

HE  cardinals  had  all  followed  the  Pope  to 
Bologna,  and  his  death  occurring  May  3, 
1410,  on  May  14th  they  entered  the  con- 
clave, and  on  May  17th  elected  Baltasar 
Cossa,  Cardinal  of  Bologna,  Pope,  who 
was  enthroned  on  May  25th,  and  took  the  title  of 
John  XXIII.,  the  last  Pope  ever  known  by  that  name, 
heretofore  such  a  favorite,  for  no  one  since  has  cared 
to  revive  sleeping  memories  by  taking  John  for  his 
pontifical  appellative. 

The  very  first  question  that  arises  is,  How  was  it 
possible  for  an  assembly  of  the  highest  ecclesiastics 
in  the  world,  knowing  that  the  eyes  of  all  Latin 
Christendom  were  on  them,  and  realizing  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  to  choose  such  a  person  as  this  John? 
He  had  been  a  pirate  in  his  youth  and  had  had  two 
brothers  hanged  for  piracy ;  but  let  that  pass.  No 
man  ought  to  have  brought  up  against  him  the  sins 
of  his  youth  if  he  repents  of  them  and  mends  his 
ways.  The  universal  condemnation  of  John  rests  on 
other  grounds.  We  will  also  put  on  one  side  the 
accusations  of  unnatural  lusts,   though    such   were 

142 


Character  of  John  XXIII,  143 

openly  made  at  the  Council  of  Constance;  but  all 
allowance  made  for  the  violence  and  injustice  of 
enemies,  John  XXIII.  seems  to  have  been  a  monster 
of  lust,  cruelty,  tyranny,  and  deceit. 

Von  Niem,  his  secretary,  says  that  in  Bologna  it 
was  openly  said  that  in  that  city  alone  he  had  cor- 
rupted two  hundred  wives,  widows,  virgins,  and  even 
nuns.  Aretino,  another  secretary,  speaks  of  him  as 
an  able  man  without  one  trace  of  spirituality.  How 
was  it  possible  that  a  man  so  unholy,  so  thoroughly 
wicked,  could  have  been  made  the  successor  of  St. 
Peter  and  the  Vicar  of  Christ?  Tiie  election  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  compulsory,  or  else  somebody 
would  have  said  so  at  the  Council  of  Constance,  when 
certainly  everything  was  brought  up  against  John 
that  could  be  hunted  out. 

The  fact  is  that  the  cardinals,  terrified  at  the  state 
of  Italy,  and  feeling  the  absolute  need  of  a  powerful 
man  at  the  head  of  affairs,  allowed  themselves  to  be 
persuaded  that  no  other  person  in  the  world  could 
manage  the  difficult  situation  as  well  as  Baltasar 
Cossa,  liar  and  adulterer  as  he  was.  Tiiey  seemed 
to  forget  his  frightful  vices  and  crimes  in  his  energy, 
talent  for  affairs,  and  commanding  personality.  He 
was  so  far  superior  to  any  of  them  in  ability  that  he 
dominated  them  completely,  and  in  his  presence  and 
under  his  influence  they  acted  as  if  hypnotized,  and 
followed  his  lead  exactly.  This  does  not  at  all  ex- 
cuse their  action,  but  it  explains  it.  It  is  only  one 
instance  among  many  of  superior  ability,  even  if 
coupled  with  great  wickedness,  winning  its  way  to 
the  front. 


144   The  Age  of  the  Great  Wester 7t  Schism, 

In  June,  1410,  John  created  fourteen  cardinals, 
among  whom  were  two  Englishmen,  Langley,  Bishop 
of  Durham,  and  Robert  Hallam,  Bishop  of  Sahsbury. 
He  excommunicated,  as  was  to  be  expected,  the  two 
old  deposed  popes,  Gregory  and  Benedict,  and  de- 
clared the  troublesome  Ladislas  deposed  from  his 
throne.  To  counteract  Ladislas,  the  Pope  threw  in 
his  lot  with  Louis  of  Anjou  for  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  and  Louis  hastened  to  Bologna  to  prostrate 
himself  at  the  Pope's  feet.  The  two  joined  their 
forces,  and  Louis  set  out  for  Rome.  The  Pope  did 
not  dare  to  go  with  him,  for  there  were  very  evident 
signs  that  the  cities  of  his  former  legation  were  only 
waiting  for  his  absence  to  revolt ;  and  that  is  what 
happened  when,  emboldened  by  some  successes  of 
Louis,  the  Pope  left  Bologna,  March  31,  141 1,  with 
a  splendid  escort  of  French  and  Italian  ecclesiastics 
and  nobles.  On  April  14th,  at  Rome,  the  city  mag- 
istrates appeared  before  him  and  did  homage,  and  on 
April  28th  he  reviewed  the  very  finest  army  that 
had  ever  gone  out  to  war  with  Naples.  On  May 
19th  Louis  gained  a  great  victory  over  Ladislas,  who 
barely  escaped  with  his  life.  The  captured  banners 
were  sent  to  John,  who  had  them  trailed  through  the 
mud  of  Rome. 

But  the  winning  of  a  battle  is  not  enough ;  it  must  be 
followed  up,  and  Louis  did  not  prove  equal  to  that.  He 
delayed  pursuit  so  long  that  the  prisoners  were  enabled 
not  only  to  arrange  their  ransoms,  but  also  to  buy  back 
their  arms,  so  that  Ladislas,  in  fact,  bought  back  his  army 
and  manned  all  the  passes  into  Neapolitan  territory. 
Louis  in  vain  attempted  to  force  them,  and,  becoming 


Ladislas  of  Naples.  I45 


dis-usted  with  the  whole  business,  hired  a  ship  in 
Rome  and  sailed  away  to  Provence,  so  little  thought 
of  that  no  one  came  to  the  wharf  to  see  him  off.     He 
was  never  heard  of  again  and  died  in   141 7-     Now 
again  Ladislas  came  to  the  front,  for  nothing  could 
long  keep   down   that   restless  and   energetic  king. 
John  excommunicated  him  over  and  over  again,  and 
published  a  crusade  against  him  all  over  Europe  ;  but 
tlie  King  of  Naples  laughed  at  all  such  things  as  the 
impotent  ravings  of  an  old  woman.     The  great  leader 
of  the  free-lances,  Sforza,  on  whom  the  Pope  had 
greatly  relied,  deserted  to  Ladislas,  and  all  the  re- 
venge the  Pope  could  take  was  to  have  an  effigy  of 
him  made,  which  he  hung  by  the  right  foot  from 
the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo,  with  a  hoe  in  one  hand  and 
a  legend  in  the  other,  setting  forth  in  coarse  and  cut- 
ting language  Sforza's  many  failings. 

The  Pope  now  turned  entirely  around  and  com- 
menced dickering   with    Ladislas,   although  he  had 
loaded  him  with  every  epithet  of  vileness  that  even 
a  papal  tongue  could   command.     They   both  had 
something  to  gain.     Ladislas  wanted  to  get  nd  of 
the  claims  of  Louis  of  Anjou,  and  John  wanted  to 
deprive  old  Gregory  XII.  of  the  protection  of  Ladis- 
las, under  whose  strong  shield  he  was  then  living^ 
The  compact  was  made.   The  Pope  meanly  abandoned 
Louis,  who  had  risked  much  for  him,  and  agreed  to 
recognize  Ladislas  as  King  of  Naples  and  to  pay  him 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  ducats  in  two  year?  ; 
and  Ladislas  just  as  meanly  abandoned  the  cause  of 
Gregory,  and  notified  the  old  man  that  he  must  leave 
his  dominions,  for  that,  by  "  the  grace  of  the  Holy 


146    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Spirit  "  (!),  he  had  been  led  to  acknowledge  John  as 
the  true  Pope. 

Poor  old  Gregory  was  at  Gaeta,  little  expecting  so 
summary  a  dismissal,  and  he  did  not  know  which  way 
to  turn ;  but  the  citizens  of  Gaeta,  who  were  much 
attached  to  him,  bought  a  couple  of  ships  which 
happened  to  put  in  at  Gaeta,  and  sent  him  off.  After 
much  cruising  he  landed  at  Cesena,  and  the  lord  of 
Rimini,  Malatesta,  gave  him  shelter  there,  for  he  was 
willing  to  do  anything  to  exasperate  John,  whom  he 
cordially  hated. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Alexander  had  promised 
at  Pisa  to  call  a  council  within  three  years  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reform,  and  John  felt  bound  to  carry  out  that 
promise ;  so  he  called  a  council  at  Rome,  which  met 
after  various  delays  on  February  10,  141 3.  Very 
few  prelates  arrived,  for  John  did  not  want  many  and 
used  threats  to  prevent  from  coming  those  he  could 
not  trust.  In  Rome  was  not  a  safe  place  then  for  timid 
bishops  to  venture.  Nothing  came  of  the  council;  it 
burned  Wyclif's  writings  on  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's, 
which  certainly  did  him  no  harm,  and  the  moment 
any  reform  questions  were  brought  up  the  Pope's 
friends  got  the  floor  and  talked  them  to  death. 
Muratori,  in  the  "Life  of  John  XXIII.,"  relates  the 
following  incident,  which  in  those  superstitious  times 
was  considered  ominous  enough.  At  evening  service, 
during  the  council,  the  Pope  was  just  beginning  the 
hymn,  "  Come,  Holy  Spirit,"  when  an  owl  flew  into 
the  chapel  and  settled  itself  on  a  beam  just  opposite 
the  Pope,  winking  and  blinking  at  him.  A  cardinal 
called  out,  "  What  a  curious  shape  for  the   Holy 


Capture  of  Rome  by  Ladislas.         147 


Ghost!"  and  everybody  laughed,  while  the  brazen 
Pope  was  visibly  dismayed.  John  soon  dissolved  this 
gathering,  but  he  did  not  dare  to  let  the  question  of 
a  council  drop,  and  on  March  3,  141 3,  issued  a  sum- 
mons for  a  council  to  be  held  in  December,  notice  of 
time  and  place  to  be  given  later. 

The  hollow  peace  which  Ladislas  and  the  Pope  had 
patched  up  did  not  last  long,  and  certainly  the  king 
had  not  expected  that  it  would.  He  soon  found  the 
Romans  growing  very  tired  of  their  Pope  and  his 
taxes,  for  John  debased  their  coin,  increased  the 
duties  on  wine  so  that  no  more  was  brought  to 
market,  and  then  attempted  to  squeeze  a  second  fee 
out  of  all  the  ofificials  Gregory  had  named.  This  was 
the  straw  that  broke  the  camel's  back.  The  Pope 
and  the  citizens,  however,  went  through  a  solemn  farce 
of  pledging  faith  to  each  other.  John  abolished  the 
obnoxious  taxes  and  instituted  the  old  Roman  re- 
publican forms,  and  the  citizens  swore  that  they  were 
ready  to  die  rather  than  submit  to  Ladislas,  whose 
army  was  at  the  very  gates.  A  few  days  after  this 
mummery  Ladislas  broke  through  the  city  wall  near 
the  Basilica  of  Santa  Croce,  and  the  city  was  his  again. 

The  Pope  and  cardinals  fled  away,  and  tlie  horse- 
men of  Ladislas  after  them,  and  as  they  were  mostly 
old  and  luxurious  men,  many  perished  of  fright  and 
misery.  John  got  to  Viterbo  and  thence  to  Monte- 
fiascone,  but  the  peasants  were  so  uneasy  for  fear' 
that  Ladislas  would  come  there  and  destroy  their 
crops  that  John  was  forced  to  go  on  to  Florence, 
which  he  reached  on  June  21st.  The  Florentines  did 
not  want  to  let  him  in,  but  he  found  a  lodgement  in 


148    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

the  monastery  of  St.  Antonio  outside  the  walls,  and 
Ladislas  meanwhile  overran  the  whole  Roman  terri- 
tory. John  knew  not  where  to  turn,  except  to  Sig- 
ismund,  the  new  sovereign  of  Germany,  and  he 
doubtless  would  have  preferred  even  Ladislas  if  he 
had  had  the  least  idea  how  Sigismund  would  trick 
him  and  bring  about  his  ruin. 

The  German  situation  must  now  be  considered. 
There  had  been  three  claimants  of  the  empire,  as  there 
had  been  three  of  the  Popedom — the  party  of  Wen- 
ceslas,  that  of  his  brother  Sigismund,  King  of  Hun- 
gary, and  a  third  party,  which  had  chosen  Jobst,  or 
Jocas,  Marquis  of  Moravia.  In  this  last  party  were 
the  archbishops  of  Mayence  and  Cologne,  who  were 
also  imperial  electors.  Jobst,  being  nearly  ninety, 
soon  died,  and  Wenceslas,  the  drunkard,  and  his 
brother  Sigismund  were  reconciled,  so  that  the  latter 
had  a  fair  field.  The  Archbishop  of  Mayence  came 
over  to  him,  with  the  stipulation  that  the  emperor 
should  acknowledge  John  XXIII.  as  Pope,  and  so 
Germany  now  definitely  deserted  Gregory  and  ac- 
cepted John.  Sigismund  was  now  elected  King  of  the 
Romans,  with  his  succession  to  the  empire  assured. 

The  Emperor  Sigismund  was  a  strong  personality, 
and  no  emperor  since  Frederic  II.  had  taken  so  prom- 
inent a  stand.  He  had  had  a  stormy  youth,  for  no 
man  ever  lived  more  addicted  to  sensuality,  and  his 
debts  were  so  great  that  during  his  whole  life  he  felt 
their  embarrassment.  His  necessities  had  forced  him 
into  very  shifty  transactions,  and  he  gave  little  prom- 
ise of  a  great  future  ;  but  he  was  now  forty-three,  and 
had  resolved  to  lead  a  life  more  consonant  with  his 


The  Emperor  Sigismimd.  149 


lofty  position  and  the  high  aims  which  stirred  within 
him.  One  of  his  most  earnest  wishes  was  tiie  healing 
of  the  schism  in  the  church ;  to  that  he  determined 
to  devote  his  best  energies,  and,  much  as  he  has  been 
blamed  by  Protestant  writers,  he  conscientiously  en- 
deavored to  carry  out  that  determination.  He  was 
a  man  of  magnificent  presence,  thoroughly  versed  in 
all  knightly  accomplishments,  fond  of  show  and  splen- 
dor, and  thoroughly  understanding  how  to  dazzle  all 
beholders. 

He  had  one  great  advantage:  he  was  the  only 
sovereign  of  the  first  rank  whose  hands  were  entirely 
free,  for  France  and  England  were  involved  in  deadly 
war.  The  victory  of  Agincourt  had  turned  the 
head  of  Henry  V.,  and  he  hoped  to  subdue  all 
France  to  the  English  crown.  The  French  had  a 
lunatic  for  king,  and  civil  war,  carried  on  by  the 
Armagnacs  and  Burgundians,  had  desolated  and 
paralyzed  the  whole  country.  Sigismund  really 
stood  alone,  the  most  imposing  figure  in  Europe, 
brave,  but  opposed  to  war  and  determined  to  bring 
about  a  meeting  of  a  general  council.  The  Pope  was 
well  aware  of  this  resolute  purpose  of  Sigismund,  and 
that  only  by  assenting  to  it  and  helping  to  carry  it 
out  could  he  hope  for  any  aid  from  the  emperor. 
He  was  too  keen-sighted  a  man  not  to  foresee  all  the 
possible  disadvantages  of  such  a  council.  He  was 
certain  his  own  abandoned  life  would  come  in  ques- 
tion, and  no  Pope  could  view  with  any  calmness  the 
probabilities  of  a  long  discussion  over  the  question, 
"  Which  is  the  supreme  authority,  Pope  or  council  ?  " 
with  every  prospect  of  a  decision  in  favor  of  the  latter. 


150    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

But  the  Pope  thought  a  subtle  Italian  a  good  match 
any  time  for  a  heavy  German,  and  he  had  great  faith 
in  the  prestige  of  the  Papacy  and  the  vast  treasure 
he  had  it  in  his  power  to  distribute.  The  greasing 
of  palms  was  quite  as  influential  then  as  now.  He 
trusted  that  the  many  cardinals  he  had  made  would 
stand  by  him,  and  that  he  certainly  had  cunning 
enough  to  foment  plenty  of  divisions  after  the  council 
got  under  way.  He  talked  the  whole  thing  over  with 
his  secretary,  Leonardo  Aretino,  who  has  left  an  ac- 
count of  the  talk.  "  The  whole  point  of  the  council," 
he  said,  "  is  in  the  place,  and  I  will  take  care  that  it 
is  not  held  in  any  place  where  the  emperor  is  more 
powerful  than  myself.  I  will  give  my  ambassadors 
the  most  ample  powers,  which  they  may  openly  show 
for  the  sake  of  appearances,  but  secretly  I  will  re- 
strict my  commission  to  certain  places." 

This  the  Pope  fully  intended  to  carry  out,  and  when 
he  came  into  the  room  to  give  his  last  instructions 
to  his  chosen  deputies,  the  two  cardinals,  Challant 
and  Zabarella,  he  had  a  paper  of  secret  instructions 
in  his  hand,  in  which  he  named  the  cities  they  would 
be  allowed  to  accept ;  but  "  those  whom  the  gods 
would  destroy  they  first  make  mad,"  and  the  Pope 
suddenly  said,  "  I  have  such  faith  in  your  wisdom 
and  courage  that  I  will  not  burden  you  with  any 
conditions."  He  tore  up  the  paper,  which  was  for 
him  a  fatal  step. 

The  Emperor  Sigismund  was  living  at  Como,  and 
thither  the  ambassadors  hastened.  As  soon  as  the 
interview  was  arranged  the  emperor  proposed  Con- 
stance.    He  said  it  was  well  situated  for  both  Italians 


Meeting  of  John  a7id  Sigisimmd.     1 5 1 


and  Transalpines,  being  just  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps. 
It  was  healthy,  food  could  be  easily,  procured  all 
around  the  lake,  and  he  would  be  able  to  make  every- 
thing very  safe  for  everybody.  The  envoys  wriggled 
and  struggled,  but  the  emperor  would  not  yield  an 
inch,  or  hear  to  any  other  place,  and,  much  as  they 
feared  the  outcome,  they  at  last  gave  way  and  con- 
sented in  the  Pope's  name  to  a  council  being  sum- 
moned at  Constance  for  November  i,  1414-  The 
cunning  emperor  did  not  delay  a  moment.  Before 
the  envoys  had  left  the  city  messengers  were  flying 
in  all  directions,  announcing  the  time  and  place  of 
the  council,  and  summoning  to  it  the  bishops  and 
sovereigns,  with  ample  promises  for  their  safe-con- 
duct. 

The  Pope  foamed  with  rage  when  the  deputies  re- 
turned and  told  him  what  had  happened,  but  what 
could  he  do?  He  had  no  other  way  of  escape  open 
to  him.  He  still  hoped  to  bring  about  a  change  of 
place,  and  arranged  for  a  personal  interview  with  the 
emperor,  hoping  that  "  a  fine  Italian  hand  "  would 
count  for  something.  The  interview  took  place  at  Lodi, 
and  the  emperor  served  the  Pope's  mass  as  deacon. 
This  promised  well,  but  when  they  came  to  talk, 
the  Pope  had  to  take  a  severe  lecture  from  the  em- 
peror on  his  immoral  life  and  the  corruption  of  his 
court,  and  he  soon  saw  that  no  blandishments  of  his 
would  induce  Sigismund  to  allow  the  council  to  be 
held  in  some  Lombard  city.  The  Pope  said,  "  It 
will  be  so  hard  for  us  to  cross  the  Alps."  The  em- 
peror dryly  replied,  "  And  equally  hard  for  us  to  do 
so."     It  was  no  use.    The  Pope  had  to  give  up,  and, 


152    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

with  a  most  unwilling  pen,  on  December  9th  he  signed 
the  summons  for  the  council  in  Constance  on  the 
next  All  Saints'  day.  Sigismund,  on  his  account, 
summoned  the  two  deposed  popes,  and  once  more  the 
empire  and  the  Papacy  joined  to  govern  Christendom. 

The  two  potentates  made  a  pleasure  excursion  to 
Cremona,  and  while  there  the  lord  of  Cremona  took 
them  to  the  top  of  a  high  tower  to  show  them  the  view. 
Fondolo,  the  host,  was  a  great  scoundrel,  and  years 
after,  when  he  came  to  his  bloody  end,  he  confessed 
before  his  execution  that,  when  he  had  the  Pope  and 
the  emperor  up  there  on  the  lofty  campanile,  he  had 
been  strongly  impelled  to  hurl  them  both  over  the 
parapet,  not  that  he  bore  them  any  particular  grudge, 
but  because  he  felt  sure  that  such  a  deed  would  make 
his  name  immortal.  He  added  to  this  statement  the 
cool  remark  that  he  was  very  sorry  he  had  not  done 
it.  Little  did  the  two  high  personages  know  the  risk 
they  had  run.  They  parted  in  peace,  and  John  went 
on  to  Bologna,  worried  enough  by  another  outbreak 
of  his  old  enemy,  Ladislas,  who  on  the  I4lh  of  March 
broke  into  Rome  with  his  army,  and  rode  straight  up 
the  aisle  of  St.  John  Lateran  to  look  at  the  heads  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  which  the  frightened  priests 
held  up ;  much  good  the  sight  must  have  done  him. 
Then  he  left  Rome  for  Florence,  and  frightened  the 
Florentines  into  a  peace,  and  was  on  his  way  back  to 
Rome  when  he  was  struck  with  his  last  illness.  He 
managed  to  sail  to  Naples,  where  he  died  August  6, 
14 14,  much  to  the  joy  of  Pope  John,  the  Romans, 
and,  in  fact,  everybody  else  outside  of  Naples. 

Ladislas   was   a  strong  man;   he  was  rough  and 


Death  of  Ladislas.  153 

cruel,  but  the  soldiers  of  that  time  were  generally  so. 
Mis  grand  idea  of  uniting  all  Italy  in  one  great  Italian 
kingdom  took  centuries  to  realize.  His  arm  was  far- 
reaching,  and,  as  it  was  restrained  by  no  considera- 
tions of  honor,  men  everywhere  trembled  before  the 
uncertainty  as  to  where  it  would  strike.  The  history 
of  his  career  is  well-nigh  forgotten  now,  but  art  has 
conferred  upon  him  immortality,  for  his  monument  is 
conspicuous  even  in  Naples,  a  city  remarkable  for  its 
magnificent  tombs.  It  fills  the  whole  east  end  of  the 
church  of  St.  John  Carbonara,  and  on  it  is  the  in- 
scription, "  Divus  Ladislas,"  which  hardly  coincides 
with  the  opinion  of  Antonio  Petri,  a  writer  of  his  time, 
who,  mentioning  his  death,  says,  "  His  soul  was 
blessed  the  contrary  way,"  which  is  a  very  euphemis- 
tic way  of  saying  that  it  was  sent  to  hell. 

His  death  was  a  great  relief  to  Pope  John,  and  he 
regretted  bitterly  that  it  had  not  happened  before  he 
gave  himself  into  the  hands  of  Sigismund.  He  began 
to  question  now  whether  he  should  go  to  Constance. 
His  family  begged  him  not  to  go ;  they  are  reported 
to  have  said,  "  You  may  go  a  Pope  and  come  back  a 
private  citizen  ;"  but  his  cardinals  felt  that  every  sen- 
timent of  honor  demanded  that  the  Pope  should  keep 
his  plighted  word.  "  It  was  too  late  now  to  retract," 
they  said.  Whatever  John  may  have  been,  he  was 
not  a  coward,  and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  face  the 
dangers.  His  pride,  moreover,  dangled  before  him 
the  great  honor  of  presiding  over  a  general  council, 
which  he  thought  he  could  do  for  a  short  time,  and 
then  depute  a  cardinal  to  take  his  place,  and  come 
back  to  Italy. 


154    ^-^^^  ^^^  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

October  ist  he  set  out,  carrying  with  him  money- 
enough,  he  said,  to  buy  up  every  enemy,  for,  hke  all 
dishonorable  men,  he  thought  every  one  else  pur- 
chasable. A  splendid  train  accompanied  him,  and  in 
Tyrol  he  met  Frederic,  Count  of  Tyrol,  who  promised 
him  protection  if  he  needed  it,  and  as  Frederic's  terri- 
tory came  close  up  to  Constance,  such  a  promise  was 
not  to  be  despised.  As  the  papal  train  was  descend- 
ing the  Arlberg,  the  Pope's  carriage  was  upset,  and 
his  temper  was  so  tried  that  he  lay  cursing  in  the 
snow  as  if  his  old  pirate  days  had  come  back.  As  he 
halted  on  the  mountain  in  sight  of  Constance,  he  ex- 
claimed, "This  is  the  way  foxes  are  trapped!"  His 
heart  was  full  of  foreboding,  but  he  put  on  a  brave 
front,  and  on  the  28th  of  October  he  made  his  entry 
into  Constance  with  nine  cardinals  and  a  train  of  nine 
hundred  priests  and  laymen. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE    COUNCIL    OF    CONSTANCE. 


HE  little  city  of  Constance,  on  the  lake  of 
that  name,  containini^  only  seven  or  eight 
thousand  people,  was  now  the  cynosure  of 
all  eyes.  In  a  moment  it  had  leaped  into 
notoriety,  and  there  was  not  a  hamlet  in 
Europe  where  it  was  not  often  on  men's  lips.  It  is 
a  sleepy  little  place  now,  where  even  the  tourist  de- 
lays but  a  few  hours.  The  old  walls  surround  it,  and 
in  the  "  Kaufhaus  "  is  the  hall  where  many  of  the 
doings  of  the  famous  council  took  place.  The  cathe- 
dral in  its  present  form  has  no  greater  antiquity  than 
the  sixteenth  century,  but  St.  Stephen's  Church  dates 
from  the  fourteenth.  The  Rhine  flows  out  of  the  lake 
just  at  the  city's  edge.  The  lake  is  very  often  called 
the  "  Bodensee,"  either  from  the  Castle  of  Boden,  or 
from  the  idea  that  it  has  no  boden,  or  bottom.  It  is 
about  forty-two  miles  long  and  a  little  over  seven 
wide. 

In  June,  14 14,  the  emperor's  people  arrived,  and 
began  to  make  preparations  for  his  comfort,  and  in 
August  came  a  cardinal  to  get  all  things  in  readiness 
for  the  Pope,  and  from  that  time  until  All  Saints'  day, 

I5S 


156    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

the  day  set  for  opening  the  council,  there  was  no 
hveher  place  to  be  found  on  earth  than  the  little 
Swiss  town.  The  comers  were  not  all  ecclesiastics, 
for  every  bishop  had  his  train  of  men-at-arms,  and 
merchants  from  all  parts  of  the  world  fiocked  there, 
knowing  that  in  such  a  gathering  of  the  rich  and 
mighty  it  would  be  easy  to  dispose  of  many  wares. 
There  was  also  a  great  crowd  of  singers,  players,  and 
amusement  providers  of  all  kinds. 

There  are  various  estimates  of  the  number  of 
strangers  present  at  one  time,  varying  between  fifty 
and  one  hundred  thousand,  among  whom  were  counted 
over  a  thousand  prostitutes.  Everything  relating  to 
the  police,  the  sanitation,  the  provisioning  of  the  city, 
was  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  Count  Palatine 
Louis,  and  well  did  he  discharge  his  high  trust.  There 
never  was  any  lack  of  food,  and  never  any  overcrowd- 
ing. Stalls  for  thirty  thousand  horses  and  beds  for 
thirty-six  thousand  men  were  provided,  and  that  this 
should  be  done  in  a  small  town  of  eight  thousand 
people  shows  most  admirable  management.  There 
was,  of  course,  with  so  many  men  much  debauchery, 
but  it  was  kept  steadily  in  the  background,  and  there 
was  nothing  that  could  be  called  a  riot  during  the 
whole  long  duration  of  the  council.  The  policemen 
were  two  thousand  in  number,  and  it  is  said  that  there 
were  five  hundred  mysterious  disappearances,  the 
subjects  of  which  were  probably  drowned  in  the  lake. 

The  ecclesiastics  in  attendance  were :  twenty-nine 
cardinals,  three  patriarchs,  thirty-three  archbishops, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  bishops,  one  hundred  abbots, 
fifty  deans,  three  hundred  doctors  of  theology,  and 


opening  of  the  Council.  157 

eighteen  hundred  priests.  The  seculars  inchided  more 
than  one  hundred  nobles  and  nearly  three  thousand 
knights.  The  immense  suites  of  some  of  the  visitors 
show  the  pomp  and  luxury  of  the  age.  John  IIuss, 
a  simple  priest,  had  eight  attendants.  The  splendid 
processions,  as  each  sovereign  or  great  prelate  entered 
the  city,  kept  up  a  moving  panorama  of  the  greatest 
interest.  One  prelate,  John  of  Nassau,  Archbishop  of 
Mayence,  rode  in  incased  in  complete  armor,  helmet 
and  lance  and  cuirass,  and  after  him  three  hundred 
and  fifty-two  men  and  seven  hundred  horses.  It  was 
a  curious  exponent  of  a  shepherd  of  the  flock  of  Christ. 
This  great  and  magnificent  company  did  not  all 
arrive  for  the  beginning;  indeed,  so  slow  were  they 
in  gathering  that  on  All  Saints'  day,  November  ist, 
when  the  council  was  to  have  opened,  the  Pope 
thought  it  best  to  postpone  the  opening  until  Novem- 
ber 3d  ;  then  it  was  delayed  until  the  5tii,  and  on  that 
day,  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony,  the  Pope  de- 
clared the  council  open,  and  fixed  the  time  of  the 
first  session  for  November  i6th.  On  that  day  the 
Pope  preached  from  the  words,  "  Speak  ye  every  man 
the  truth,"  and  as  that  was  a  thing  he  very  seldom 
did,  the  sermon  must  have  been  purely  theoretical. 
Nothing  more  was  done  that  day,  for  nobody  knew 
exactly  what  to  do,  and  each  hesitated  to  make  the 
first  move.  The  leader  had  not  yet  arrived,  but 
there  had  crept  into  the  city  a  poorly  dressed  and 
mean-looking  man,  whose  name  had  been  for  some 
years  now  on  the  lips  of  vast  numbers  of  people,  and 
who  was  destined  to  furnish  many  a  page  for  the 
church  historian — John  Huss,  a  poor  Bohemian  priest. 


158    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

We  possess  very  copious  material  relating  to  the 
Council  of  Constance.  Von  der  Hardt  (i  700)  gathered 
together  and  published  at  Leipsic  an  immense  collec- 
tion of  documents  of  all  kinds,  and  there  exist  two 
most  interesting  diaries  of  persons  who  were  present, 
one  written  by  a  burgher  of  Constance  who  was  one  of 
the  committee  of  arrangements,  Ulric  von  Reichenthal, 
and  the  other  by  Cardinal  Filastre  who  took  a  prom- 
inent part  in  the  proceedings.  Cardinal  Peter  d' Ailly 
and  Cardinal  Zabarella  were  also  very  conspicuous, 
and  of  the  English,  Robert  Hallam,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury. Of  English  bishops  there  were  present  Bath, 
Hereford,  Salisbury,  Bangor,  Winchester,  London, 
Lichfield,  and  Norwich.  The  Emperor  Sigismund,  the 
most  exalted  personage  next  to  the  Pope  in  the 
council,  did  not  appear  until  Christmas,  and  as  no- 
body wished  to  show  his  hand  on  the  great  sub- 
ject of  the  council's  convening,  the  closure  of  the 
schism,  it  was  necessary  to  find  something  to  fill  up 
the  time. 

One  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  council  was  the 
consideration  of  the  affairs  of  Bohemia  and  John  Huss, 
and  as  Huss  was  present  under  the  safe-conduct  of 
the  emperor,  the  Pope  judged  that  they  might  well 
begin  his  case.  What  a  feather  in  his  cap  it  would 
be,  if  he  could  put  down  this  tide  of  heresy!  It 
would  be  interesting  if  we  could  know  the  thoughts 
which  were  occupying  the  Pope's  mind  at  that  time, 
but  we  can  only  conjecture  them.  He  feared  the 
council,  and  yet  he  was  proud  of  it.  Before  him  was 
ever  the  shadow  of  his  possible  deposition,  but  he 
hugged  his  money-bags  to  his  breast  and  believed 


General  Opposition  to  IIuss.  159 

that  money  would  smooth  away  all  obstacles  and 
purchase  all  votes.      He  was  mistaken. 

The  Pope  had  seen  Huss  since  his  arrival  in  Con- 
stance, and  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  If  he  had  slain 
my  brother  I  would  not  permit,  as  far  as  lay  in  my 
power,  any  harm  to  be  done  to  him  in  Constance." 
Huss  had  come  in  perfect,  and,  we  must  think,  ex- 
aggerated, confidence.  True,  he  had  a  safe-conduct 
from  Sigismund,  and  not  only  that,  but  certificates  of 
orthodo.xy  from  the  emperor,  from  the  Archbishop  of 
Prague,  and  from  the  papal  inquisitor  for  Bohemia,  who 
had  questioned  him  minutely ;  but  it  is  evident  he 
had  not  truly  grasped  the  composition  of  the  council. 
Certainly  he  had  not  much  to  hope  for  from  it ;  in 
spite  of  his  certificates  of  orthodoxy,  the  practical 
Italian  cardinals  saw  immediately  that  his  preaching 
and  his  publications  were  a  direct  attack  on  their 
whole  system.  England  and  France  were  both  afraid 
of  the  socialism  in  his  views,  and  even  Gerson,  liberal 
theologian  as  he  was,  sent  the  Archbishop  of  Prague 
a  selection  of  twenty  articles  from  IIuss's  writings 
which  he  said  were  dangerous  and  heretical.  Hefound 
especial  fault  with  that  dogma  of  Huss  that  the  real 
church  was  made  up  only  of  those  foreordained  to 
salvation,  and  that  their  judgment  was  to  be  supreme 
overall  in  authority — certainly  a  most  dangerous  idea 
in  church  or  state.  Gerson  well  says :  "  Political 
power  is  not  founded  on  the  title  of  predestination 
or  grace,  since  that  would  be  most  uncertain,  but 
is  established  according  to  laws  ecclesiastical  and 
civil."  The  peculiar  views  of  Huss  will  be  set 
forth  in  the  chapter  on  John  Wyclif,  from  whom  he 


i6o   The  Age  of  the  Gixat  ¥/estern  Schism. 

derived  them ;  indeed,  our  best  collection  of  Wyclif 's 
writings  is  to  be  found  in  the  Imperial  Library  at 
Vienna,  to  which  they  were  transferred  from  the 
Bohemian  convents  and  monasteries  which  were  se- 
questered by  the  Austrian  emperor,  Joseph  II. 

The  Pope  had  allowed  Huss  to  visit  the  churches 
in  Constance,  but  wished  him  to  hear  mass  when  there 
were  few  present,  and  he  asked  him  not  to  celebrate. 
Huss,  however,  paid  no  attention  to  that  wish,  but  every 
day  said  mass  in  his  own  house,  and  large  numbers  of 
people  resorted  to  it.  The  house  was  also  constantly 
filled  with  people  listening  to  his  talk.  All  this  had 
been  reported  to  the  council  by  Huss's  bitter  ene- 
mies, Palecz  and  Michael  de  Causis,  and  on  the  28th 
of  November  two  bishops,  with  the  burgomaster  of 
Constance,  came  to  Huss's  house  at  dinner-time  and 
informed  him  that  the  Pope  and  cardinals  wished  him 
to  appear  before  them.  Huss  rose  from  the  table, 
saying,  "  I  did  not  come  to  Constance  to  argue  with 
Pope  and  cardinals  ;  I  came  to  speak  before  a  general 
council ;  but  for  peace'  sake  I  will  go  with  you."  His 
horse  was  brought,  and,  surrounded  by  a  guard  of 
armed  men,  he  rode  to  the  papal  lodging,  where  a 
number  of  cardinals  were  assembled.  They  accused 
him  of  heresy  and  read  to  him  charges  which  had 
been  formulated,  and  he  said  that  if  he  could  be 
proved  a  heretic  he  would  recant. 

He  was  charged  at  this  time  with  teaching :  ( i )  that 
it  was  necessary  to  receive  the  eucharist  in  both  kinds  ; 
(2)  that  the  validity  of  the  sacraments  depended 
on  the  moral  character  of  the  priest;  and  (3)  that 
the  church  was  to  be  governed  wholly  by  the  foreor- 


Imprisonment  of  IIjcss.  i6i 

dained  and  sanctified.  The  discussion  went  on  until 
night,  when  John  of  Clihim,  Huss's  most  devoted 
friend,  who  had  accompanied  him,  was  told  that  he 
might  go  home,  but  that  IIuss  would  be  under  arrest 
in  the  palace.  Chlam  rushed  into  the  Pope's  bed- 
chamber and  cried,  "  You  have  broken  your  promise. 
Huss  has  the  emperor's  safe-conduct.  You  have  no 
right  to  arrest  him."  The  Pope  washed  his  hands  of 
the  matter  by  saying,  "  I  did  not  arrest  him.  It  was 
the  cardinals.  I  cannot  go  against  them."  Huss 
was  then  put  in  charge  of  tlie  precentor  of  the  cathe- 
dral and  confined  in  his  house,  but  on  the  6th  of 
December  he  was  transferred  to  a  dungeon  in  the 
Dominican  convent  on  a  little  island  near  the  shore. 

This  was  a  foul,  unhealthy  place,  and  Huss  became 
very  ill  there,  but  he  kept  himself  occupied  by  writ- 
ing religious  tracts  and  lengthy  answers  to  the  charges 
made  against  him.  Like  all  such  men,  he  professed 
himself  willing  to  be  convinced,  which  in  such  cases 
generally  means  having  your  adversary  agree  with 
you.  He  was  willing  for  himself  to  use  the  term 
"  transubstantiation,"  but  he  thought  ordinary  Chris- 
tians ought  to  be  expected  only  to  believe  in  the  true 
presence  of  Christ's  body  and  blood.  He  was  willing 
to  allow  that  a  wicked  priest  could  administer  the 
eucharist,  but  it  would  be  to  his  own  damnation. 
He  declared  the  cup  for  the  laity  scriptural  and  prof- 
itable, but  he  was  not  willing  to  declare  it  absolutely 
necessary. 

This  certainly  seems  fair  enough.  Meanwhile 
John  of  Chlam  was  filling  the  air  of  Constance  with 
loud  protests  against  his  friend's  arrest  and  the  viola- 


1 62    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

tion  of  the  safe-conduct.  He  sent  a  swift  messenger 
to  announce  the  fact  to  Sigismund,  who  had  just 
been  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  was  on  his 
way  to  the  council.  The  emperor  was  very  angry 
and  sent  back  word  immediately  to  release  Huss,  and 
if  the  council  did  not  heed,  he  authorized  the  opening 
of  the  prison  doors  by  force.  The  council,  however, 
did  not  heed,  for  the  general  sentiment  in  the  Huss 
matter  was  with  the  Pope  and  cardinals.  Then  Chlam 
nailed  protests  to  the  doors  of  all  the  churches  in 
Constance  solemnly  protesting  against  the  false 
promises  of  the  Pope,  but  John  Huss  remained  in 
prison. 

On  December  7th  a  congregation  of  cardinals  and 
bishops  was  held  in  the  Pope's  palace,  he  being  absent, 
to  try  to  hit  upon  a  plan  for  conducting  the  business 
of  the  council.  The  Italian  party  wished  the  first  step 
to  be  the  confirming  of  the  acts  of  the  Council  of  Pisa, 
their  motive  being  to  give  John  a  clear  title,  for  if  the 
acts  of  Pisa  deposing  Gregory  and  Benedict  were  now 
confirmed,  then  John's  title  was  without  a  flaw.  The 
French  party,  headed  by  Cardinal  d'Ailly,  were  not 
willing  to  agree  to  this.  They  contended  that  the 
Council  of  Constance  was  only  a  continuation  of  the 
Council  of  Pisa,  which  was  adjourned  and  not  dis- 
solved, and  could  not  be  dissolved  until  the  church 
was  reformed,  for  that  was  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  got  together,  and  that  purpose  they  were  there 
to  carry  out.  Some  cardinal  spoke  out  very  bluntly 
and  said  :  "  You  talk  about  reforming  the  church  ;  you 
had  better  first  reform  the  Pope.  Make  him  say 
mass  every  day  and  not  put  it  off  for  pleasure  or 


D' A  lily's  Ficzas  on  G?r£ory  and  BenedicL  163 

business;  make  him  wear  the  dress  a  Pope  should 
wear  and  not  behave  with  such  Hghtness ;  mal<e  him 
act  with  a  little  dignity  and  not  gabble  so  much  with 
all  sorts  of  people ;  make  him  attend  to  the  business 
of  his  office,"  and  they  hinted  much  more. 

This  was  not  very  reassuring  talk  to  come  to  the 
Pope's  ears,  nor  was  the  discussion  in  the  general 
congregation  a  few  days  later  any  more  to  his  taste. 
Cardinal  d'Ailly  argued  that  the  better  way  would 
be  to  proceed  with  gentleness  against  the  two  old 
popes  and  make  their  resignation  easy.  The  Pope's 
partisans  would  not  hear  to  that.  "  They  had  been 
deposed  at  Pisa,"  they  said,  "and  could  not  resign 
now."  D'Ailly 's  words  in  answer  were  very  signifi- 
cant. Von  der  Hardt  gives  them  in  full :  "  While 
with  all  probability  the  Council  of  Pisa  is  counted  to 
represent  the  universal  church,  which  is  ruled  by  the 
Spirit  and  cannot  err,  yet  it  must  not  be  concluded 
that  every  Christian  is  bound  to  believe  it  could  not 
err,  when  many  former  councils  reputed  general  have 
erred.  Doctors  have  often  taught  that  a  general 
council  can  err  not  only  in  deed,  but  in  law,  and, 
what  is  more,  in  faith.  The  universal  church  alone 
has  the  privilege  of  not  being  able  to  err  in  faith  ;  for 
when  Christ  said  to  Peter,  '  Thy  faith  shall  not  fail,' 
He  did  not  mean  Peter's  personal  faith,  but  that  of 
the  universal  church."  This  last  sentence  we  would 
call  nowadays  a  non  scquitur.  All  this  line  of 
argument  made  John  very  uneasy,  and  he  had  not 
the  wisdom  to  conceal  his  anxiety.  He  talked  with 
everybody,  and  that  never  improves  any  situation. 

The  talk  of  the  council,  however,  up  to  this  date 


164    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

was  simply  talking  against  time.  The  council  with- 
out Sigismund  was  like  soup  without  salt,  and 
his  appearance  was  the  one  absorbing  topic.  The 
emperor,  who  was  nothing  if  not  theatrical,  had  ar- 
ranged that  his  entree  should  be  as  imposing  as  pos- 
sible. Before  dawn  on  Christmas  day,  1414,  a  vast 
multitude  was  assembled  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  to 
see  his  arrival.  He,  with  a  splendid  suite,  had  em- 
barked in  boats  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake  at  Ober- 
lingen,  and  the  waters  were  lit  up  by  the  blazing 
torches  as  the  flotilla  swept  to  the  shore  amid  the 
shouts  of  the  crowd.  Sigismund  hurried  to  his  lodg- 
ings to  change  his  dress,  and  soon  appeared  at  the 
cathedral  magnificently  attired  to  take  part  in  the 
early  mass  which  was  to  be  said  by  the  Pope.  Around 
him  clustered  the  ceremonial  officers  of  his  household, 
electors  and  counts  of  the  empire,  with  the  sceptre, 
the  sword,  and  the  orb.  He  put  on  a  splendid  dal- 
matic, and  with  the  imperial  crown  upon  his  head 
took  his  place  at  the  altar,  according  to  ancient  cus- 
tom, to  serve  the  Pope  as  deacon  of  the  mass. 

It  was  his  place  to  read  the  gospel,  which  was  the 
one  still  read  on  Christmas  day  in  the  Christian 
church :  "  There  went  out  a  decree  from  Caesar  Au- 
gustus that  the  world  should  be  taxed."  No  wonder 
that  a  thrill  ran  through  the  assembly  when  they 
looked  at  that  remarkably  handsome  man,  the  first 
sovereign  in  the  world,  standing  by  the  Pope,  and 
readmg  about  the  decree  of  Caesar  Augustus,  his 
own  common  title.  No  wonder  they  felt  that  the 
decrees  of  the  council  would  probably  be  guided  by 
him.     The  emperor  could  not  have  arranged  a  scene 


Ser7non  of  D' A  illy.  165 

calculated  more  strongly  to  advance  iiis  own  influence 
and  authority.  After  mass  the  Pope,  gave  him  a 
sword,  with  which  lie  swore  he  would  defend  the 
church;  and  he  probably  meant  what  he  said,  but  he 
meant  to  do  it  in  his  own  way,  and  not  according  to 
John's  wishes.  All  things,  however,  looked  very 
fair,  and  emperor  and  Pope  met  most  cordially.  John 
knew  how  hard  pressed  the  emperor  was  for  money, 
and  he  offered  him  two  hundred  thousand  florins;  but 
Sigismund  was  obliged  most  reluctantly  to  decline, 
for  he  knew  it  was  a  bribe,  and  he  was  determined 
not  to  entangle  himself  in  any  such  way. 

Three  days  after  the  emperor's  arrival  (the  exact 
date  is  not  certain)  Cardinal  d'Ailly  preached  before 
the  council  on  the  text :  "  There  shall  be  signs  in  the 
sun,  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the  stars."  In  the  style 
of  sermonizing  of  that  day,  he  made  the  sun  represent 
the  Pope,  the  moon  the  emperor,  and  the  stars  the 
cardinals,  etc.,  in  the  firmament  of  the  council.  He 
hit  the  Pope  very  hard :  "  If  the  Pope  have  risen  by 
bad  means,  if  he  ha\e  led  a  scandalous  life,  if  he  have 
ruled  despotically,  he  is  but  the  shadow  of  a  sun." 
Then  he  foreshadowed  in  the  following  words  the 
coming  question  :  "  The  Holy  Trinity  of  the  divine 
persons  is  not  more  adorable  than  a  trinity  of  popes 
abominable."  But  while  D'Ailly  shot  arrows  at  the 
Pope,  he  stoutly  upheld  the  traditions  of  the  Papacy  : 
"The  imperial  power,"  he  said,  "must  not  think  to 
preside  in  the  council,  but  to  carry  out  its  decrees. 
The  Pope  summons  councils,  and,"  he  significantly 
added,  "  when  once  summoned  their  power  is  above 
the  Pope."     "  St.  James,"  he  said,  "  when  he  presided 


1 66    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

over  the  first  general  council  did  not  publish  the 
decrees  in  the  name  of  Peter,  but  said,  '  It  seemeth 
good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us.'  " 

Altogether  a  most  significant  sermon  ;  nobody  slept 
under  it,  and  the  Pope  must  have  heard  it  with  a 
sinking  heart.  Nor  did  he  feel  much  better  when  on 
January  4,  141 5,  it  was  decided  after  much  debate 
that  the  envoys  of  Gregory  and  Benedict  were  to  be 
received  as  cardinals,  with  cardinals'  hats,  for  it 
showed  that  the  old  popes  were  still  thought  of  as 
popes,  and  that  the  question  of  their  deposition  was 
not  yet  settled.  These  envoys  were  present  to  see 
in  what  way  the  abdications  could  best  be  arranged. 

The  first  thing  that  occupied  Sigismund  on  his  ar- 
rival in  Constance  was  the  arrest  and  imprisonment 
of  John  Huss.  He  demanded  that  the  Pope  should 
release  him.  The  Pope  said,  "  I  did  not  arrest  him ; 
it  was  the  council;  seek  redress  there."  Sigismund 
then  went  before  the  council  and  urged  the  question 
of  his  personal  honor,  for  he  had  given  a  safe-con- 
duct to  Huss.  The  bishops  replied  that  no  one  had 
any  business  to  give  safe-conducts  to  heretics,  and 
that  such  a  contract  was  invalid.  Then  the  emperor 
threatened  to  leave  Constance,  and  the  fathers  said, 
"  If  you  do,  we  do  also ;  the  council  will  be  broken 
up,  and  you  will  have  to  take  the  blame  of  it."  This 
was  a  poser,  and  Sigismund  thought  he  had  nothing  to 
do  but  to  yield.  He  yielded,  and  Huss  was  left  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  the  council  alone.  Sigismund 
has  been  much  blamed  for  this,  and,  viewed  by  the 
standards  of  our  day,  his  conduct  was  most  despica- 
ble and  treacherous  ;  but  when  you  put  yourself  back 


Dcfoicc  of  Sigismtuid.  167 

amid  the  standards  of  that  day  and  in  his  environ- 
ment, you  will  find  that  much  is  to  be  said  in  his 
defence. 

In  the  first  place,  every  man  then  held  that  the 
church  was  the  arbiter  of  duty;  that  in  any  case  of 
conscience  her  decree  was  omnipotent.  We  do  not 
hold  any  such  view,  for  we  hold  that  duty  and  honor 
are  far  superior  to  any  law  of  the  church;  but  neither 
Sigismund  nor  any  one  else  then  thought  of  such  a 
thing.  He  found  himself  advised,  by  the  very  highest 
authorities  in  his  world,  to  whom  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  defer  in  all  religious  and  moral  matters,  to 
recede  from  his  position,  as  being  a  position  he  had 
wrongly  taken,  and  therefore  the  changing  it  would  be 
doing  right.  Here  was  a  heretic,  and  of  all  crimes 
in  the  world  heresy  was  then  considered  the  most 
awful.  Kings  were  bound  to  do  their  very  utmost  to 
put  heresy  down,  and  rash  and  wicked  promises,  he 
was  told,  were  never  binding.  Gerson  reminded  him 
of  Herod's  wicked  oath  about  John  the  Baptist,  and 
asked  him  whether  it  would  not  have  been  better  if 
the  king  had  violated  that.  The  King  of  Aragon  (and 
if  the  council  was  to  succeed,  he  must  be  managed, 
for  he  was  Benedict's  faithful  champion)  wrote  him 
that  "  it  was  impossible  to  break  faith  with  one  who 
had  already  broken  faith  with  God." 

It  was  made  very  clear  to  Sigismund  that  unless 
the  council  had  power  given  it  to  settle  the  affair  of 
Huss  and  punish  him  as  the\-  saw  fit  the  whole  as- 
sembly would  dissolve  and  all  his  pains  be  for  noth- 
ing. Was  one  poor  little  liohemian  priest  worth  that 
sacrifice?  were  a  few  possible  riots  in  Bohemia  worth 


1 68    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

it?  It  is  safe  to  say  that  even  now,  with  all  our 
changed  views  about  the  arbiter  of  honor,  nine 
out  of  ten  of  the  reigning  sovereigns  would  from 
prudential  reasons  act  exactly  as  Sigismund  did. 
They  would  plead  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest 
number.  This  does  not  indeed  justify  the  emperor, 
but  it  shows  the  tremendous  difficulties  which  met 
him  on  every  side,  the  immense  pressure  brought  to 
bear  upon  him,  and  that  he  does  not  deserve  the  un- 
measured contempt  and  obloquy  which  have  been 
heaped  upon  him  by  the  great  body  of  Protestant 
commentators. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

COUNCIL    OF    CONSTANCE. 

OW  that  the  matter  of  Huss  was  put  in 
the  way  of  solution,  tiie  council  breathed 
freer.  It  felt  a  freedom  of  action  the  lack 
of  which  had  greatly  oppressed  it.  The 
emperor  had  yielded  to  the  spiritual 
power,  and  the  council  said,  "  Laus  Deo."  There 
were  grave  questions  now  to  be  settled,  which  for  a 
while  will  keep  the  Huss  question  in  the  background. 
Huss  is  safe  in  prison  and  can  wait;  the  council  must 
occupy  itself  with  more  pressing  matters.  The  first 
was  the  manner  of  voting. 

While  John  had  listened  with  ill-concealed  fear 
and  anger  to  the  wordy  attacks  upon  his  conduct 
and  his  policy,  and  while  he  saw  that  the  animus  of 
the  council  was  decidedly  for  reform,  he  said  to  him- 
self, "  When  it  comes  to  votes,  I  shall  be  all  right. 
Votes  are  the  things  that  determine  causes;  voles 
can  be  bought,  and  I  will  be  able  to  secure  the  requi- 
site majority  to  carry  my  points,  for  I  have  spent  a 
great  deal  of  money  on  very  venal  men.  A  large 
number  of  the  Italian  bishops,  especially  those  /;/ 
partibiis,  are  dependent  on  me  for  their  daily  bread, 

169 


170    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  I  have  made  fifty  men  bishops  on  purpose  to  have 
their  votes.  I  am  safe."  So  the  Pope  undoubtedly- 
reasoned,  but  he  was  destined  to  receive  a  cruel 
blow.  Others  had  thought  of  the  Italian,  or  rather 
Latin,  superiority  in  numbers. 

The  point  was  discussed  then,  as  it  was  all  over 
Europe  during  the  Vatican  Council  of  our  time.  It 
carried  the  day  there,  and  Latin  majorities  settled 
all  questions ;  but  the  Council  of  Constance,  in  the 
wise  providence  of  God,  avoided  that  rock,  on  which 
it  certainly  would  have  split  and  gone  to  pieces. 
When  the  question  was  asked,  "Who  are  to  vote?" 
the  Italians  said,  "  Why,  only  bishops  and  abbots,  as 
of  old."  D'Ailly,  always  clear-headed  and  ready, 
said,  "  That  was  all  very  well  when  bishops  fairly 
represented  the  Christian  community;  but  now  there 
were  great  institutions,  like  universities  and  orders  of 
monks,  which  deserved  representation,  and  as  the 
unity  of  the  church  was  under  discussion,  how  could 
princes  or  their  ambassadors  be  excluded  from  vot- 
ing?" Cardinal  Filastre,  also  a  Frenchman,  went 
further.  He  demanded  that  all  priests  present  should 
vote,  and  he  used  the  tolerably  sharp  words,  "  An 
ignorant  king  or  bishop  is  a  crowned  or  mitred  ass." 
Neither  of  these  schemes,  however,  prevailed. 

The  English  members  of  the  assembly  were  few 
in  number,  but  their  chairman,  Robert  Hallam,  of 
Salisbury,  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  council, 
and  through  him  they  proposed  that  the  voting 
should  be  as  in  the  universities,  by  nations.  The 
nations  were  to  be  :  (i)  the  Italians,  including  all  the 
cardinals  ;  (2)  Germans,  including  Poles,  Hungarians, 


TJic  ^iccusation  of  John.  171 

Danes,  and  Scandinavians ;  (3)  French  ;  (4)  English  ; 
(5)  Spanish,  though  as  yet  the  last-named  had  not 
joined  the  council.  The  prelates,  ambassadors,  and 
doctors  of  each  nation  were  to  assemble  and  debate 
separately ;  then  they  were  to  communicate  their 
conclusions  to  the  other  nations,  and  when  an  agree- 
ment was  reached  a  general  meeting  of  the  nations 
would  be  called,  the  matter  put  in  shape,  and  then 
confirmed  in  a  general  session  of  the  council. 

This  scheme  of  the  English  was  first  assented  to 
by  the  Germans,  then  the  next  day  by  the  French, 
and  the  Italians,  being  thus  rendered  helpless,  had  to 
submit.  No  change  could  have  been  fraught  with 
more  important  results. 

Cardinal  Filastre  now  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
council  a  paper  drawn  up  by  him,  in  which  he  said 
that  the  siiortest  way  to  end  the  schism  would  be  for 
all  three  popes  to  abdicate.  If  John  was  willing  to 
do  it,  well  and  good;  if  not,  the  council  ought  to 
compel  him  to  do  it.  The  emperor  approved  very 
highly  of  this  paper,  but  naturally  the  Pope  thought 
it  the  work  of  a  traitor,  since  he  had  made  Filastre 
a  cardinal.  The  paper  of  Filastre  was  answered  by 
partisans  of  the  Pope,  and  this  discussion  was  wisely 
kept  up  by  papers  which  were  circulated  among  the 
members,  it  being  thought  prejudicial  to  have  open 
debate  until  some  agreement  had  been  reached. 

And  now  came  into  their  midst  a  terrible  paper. 
Its  author  was  unknown,  but  it  was  a  review  of  John's 
whole  life,  and  stated  in  detail  the  vices  and  crimes 
of  his  strange  career.  It  is  a  document  which  decency 
would  prevent  being  reproduced  now,  and  was  indeed 


172   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

so  damnatory  that  the  members  of  the  council  de- 
cided to  suppress  it  as  degrading  to  their  common 
Christianity.  The  Pope,  however,  heard  of  it  and 
read  it,  and  it  frightened  him  terribly.  He  com- 
pletely lost  his  balance  and  consulted  with  the  cardi- 
nals as  to  whether  he  had  better  not  confess  what 
was  true  in  it  (for  he  acknowledged  it  was  partly 
true)  and  say  to  the  council,  "  Yes,  I  have  led  a  bad 
life,  but  I  am  not  a  heretic,  and  popes  can  only  be 
deposed  for  heresy."  The  cardinals  advised  him  to 
wait  and  not  commit  himself. 

On  February  15th  the  plan  of  a  common  abdica- 
tion of  all  three  popes  was  agreed  upon  by  the  Eng- 
lish, Germans,  and  French,  and  laid  before  the  Ital- 
ians, who  saw  no  escape  but  assent.  Deputies  now 
waited  upon  the  Pope  to  inform  him  of  this  decision, 
and  to  their  surprise  he  consented  and  submitted  a 
form  of  abdication,  which  was  immediately  put  before 
the  nations.  It  was  found  to  be  too  vague ;  it  could 
not  be  accepted.  Then  he  offered  a  second,  but  that 
also  was  rejected.  Then  the  emperor  offered  one, 
but  that  the  Pope  would  not  accept.  Then  Gerson 
drew  up  a  fourth  form,  which  the  emperor  himself 
carried  to  the  Pope,  and  presented  with  some  rather 
strong  language. 

The  Pope  struggled  and  wriggled,  but  the  nations 
held  firmly  together.  There  was  no  hope  ;  he  seemed 
to  resign  himself  to  fate,  and  summoned  a  general 
congregation.  As  has  been  already  said,  he  was  a 
man  of  courage,  and  so,  in  a  steady  voice,  which  did 
not  show  in  the  least  the  bitterness  of  his  heart,  he 
read  the  following  words  (Von  der  Hardt) :  "  I,  Pope 


Johns  Fo7inal  Promise  to  Abdicate.    173 

John  XXIII.,  for  the  repose  of  the  whole  Christian 
people,  profess,  engage,  promise,  swear,  and  vow  to 
God,  the  church,  and  this  holy  council,  willingly  and 
freely  to  give  peace  to  the  church  by  the  way  of  my 
simple  cession  of  the  Papacy,  and  to  do  this  and  fulfil 
it  efTectually  according  to  the  determination  of  this 
present  council,  whenever,  and  as  soon  as,  Peter  di 
Luna  and  Angelo  Corario,  called,  in  their  respective 
obediences,  Benedict  XIII.  and  Gregory  XII.,  shall 
in  like  manner  cede  the  Papacy,  to  which  they  pre- 
tend, either  in  person  or  by  their  lawful  proctors,  or 
even  in  any  case  of  vacancy  by  decease  or  otherwise, 
when  by  my  cession  unity  can  be  restored  to  the 
church  of  God  through  the  expiration  of  the  present 
schism." 

Certainly  this  seemed  very  fair  on  the  part  of  the 
Pope,  and  as  broad  a  declaration  as  could  have  been 
expected  from  him.  No  wonder  that  the  whole  coun- 
cil broke  out  into  shouts  and  wild  expressions  of  joy. 
It  seemed  almost  like  a  dream  that  at  last,  at  last 
after  so  many,  many  years,  the  church  was  to  have 
rest  and  peace.  Te  Deum  was  sung  as  never  sung 
before,  and  the  next  day,  at  another  public  session, 
the  Pope  repeated  this  oath  and  accentuated  it  by 
kneeling  down  before  the  altar  and  saying,  "  So  I 
promise."  Then  the  em{)eror,  taking  off  his  crown, 
knelt  down  and  kissed  the  Pope's  feet.  It  was  very 
spectacular,  rather  too  much  so  to  be  thoroughly 
genuine.  The  council  fathers  evidently  thought  so, 
for,  as  they  analyzed  the  Pope's  oath,  they  saw  that 
after  all  the  abdication  was  conditional.  They  wished 
to  make  it  absolute,  and  they  asked  the  Pope  to  issue 


1 74    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

a  bull  in  the  prescribed  form  of  abdication.  Again 
he  writhed  and  stormed  and  evaded,  but  the  relent- 
less emperor  extorted  from  him  something  more 
definite  and  yet  not  quite  full  enough,  for  still  there 
were  loopholes. 

The  council  now  took  another  step.  The  old  Pope 
Benedict  had  suggested  that  the  emperor  go  to  Nice 
to  meet  him  and  there  arrange  fully  for  his  abdica- 
tion. The  council  asked  Pope  John  to  empower  the 
emperor  to  oflfer  his  at  the  same  time.  This  John 
felt  would  be  final  and  irrevocable,  and  he  utterly 
refused  to  do  it.  He  proposed  to  go  himself  and 
meet  Benedict,  but  the  council  feared  his  trickiness 
and  did  not  want  to  trust  him  out  of  their  sight,  for 
with  him  out  of  Constance  they  feared  that  all  their 
work  would  have  been  in  vain.  Still  everything  was 
bland  and  smooth  on  the  surface,  and  on  March  loth 
John  presented  Sigismund  with  the  golden  rose,  which, 
after  all  these  centuries,  is  still  being  presented  by 
the  popes  of  our  day  to  Catholic  sovereigns.  The 
emperor  took  it  politely,  but  showed  what  he  thought 
of  it  by  immediately  presenting  it  to  the  cathedral 
for  the  Virgin's  altar. 

The  next  day  was  an  eventful  one  for  the  council, 
for  both  parties  showed  their  hands,  it  being  evident 
that  the  time  for  mincing  matters  was  past.  It  could 
no  longer  be  concealed  that  the  emperor  and  the 
Pope  were  at  daggers'  points,  and  all  could  see  that 
John's  promises  had  been  hypocritical  and  that  force 
would  have  to  be  used  to  hold  him  to  his  word.  A 
suspicion  was  taking  form  that  the  Pope  intended  to 
run  away,  and  the  emperor  had  all  the  gates  guarded ; 


Antagonis7u  between  French  and  English.  175 

but  the  Pope,  to  reassure  everybody,  promised  that 
he  would  not  dissolve  the  council,  nor  leave  it  until 
it  was  ended,  though  it  is  not  probable  that  many 
believed  him.  Words  ran  high  in  the  sessions,  and 
the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  said  openly  that  such  a  Pope 
as  John  was  deserved  to  be  burned  at  the  stake. 

The  situation  was  strained  enough.  There  were  the 
emperor  and  the  three  nations  of  English,  French,  and 
Germans  arrayed  against  the  Pope  and  the  Italians. 
The  violent  language  used  about  the  Pope  seems  for 
a  moment  to  have  softened  the  French  towards  him. 
They  said  that  things  had  gone  too  far,  and  asked 
for  an  adjournment  that  angry  passions  might  cool 
down.  Eagerly  the  Italians  caught  at  the  proposal 
and  even  ventured  to  raise  the  question  about  chang- 
ing back  from  the  vote  by  nations  to  the  individual 
voice.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  was  quite  as 
hard  for  Frenchmen  to  vote  with  Englishmen  then 
as  now,  even  more  so ;  for  the  English  were  at  that 
moment  in  the  heart  of  France,  endeavoring  to  con- 
quer it  all,  and  the  battle  of  Agincourt  took  place 
that  very  year.  It  showed  a  laudable  desire  in  the 
French  to  make  the  reform  of  the  church  superior  to 
all  patriotic  feelings,  that  they  had  been  willing  at  all 
to  vote  with  the  English.  The  quarrel  ran  very  high, 
and  hot  words  were  spoken  by  Sigismund.  The  Pope 
began  to  take  courage ;  but  the  French  ambassadors 
informed  the  French  bishops  that  their  king  sided 
entirely  with  Sigismund  and  had  made  the  emperor 
his  proctor,  so  with  difficulty  they  patched  up  a 
peace. 

The   Pope   now  resolved  on  a  desperate   course, 


176    The  Age  of  the  Great  Westerit  Schism. 

which  he  concealed  by  lying.  He  had  a  strong  ally 
at  Constance  in  Frederic  of  Austria,  who  was  a  bitter 
enemy  of  Sigismund,  and  therefore,  of  course,  a  friend 
of  John.  Frederic's  territory  was  within  a  short 
ride  of  Constance,  and  thither  John  determined  to 
flee.  Sigismund  suspected  him  and,  entering  his 
presence,  accused  him  of  meditating  flight,  but  the 
Pope  with  smooth  duplicity  declared  that  he  had  not 
the  slightest  intention  of  leaving  Constance  until  the 
council  was  dissolved.  The  emperor  seemed  satisfied 
and  left  the  presence-chamber,  but  scarcely  was  he 
out  of  the  room  when  John  let  loose  his  tongue,  and 
heaped  such  epithets  as  *'  fool,  drunkard,  beggar," 
and  other  choice  words  upon  the  sovereign. 

Dietrich  von  Niem,  who  still  continues  his  chron- 
icle, tells  us  how  astonished  he  and  all  the  other  at- 
tendants were  to  hear  such  language  from  the  Pope, 
but  John  doubtless  felt  that  he  would  soon  be  beyond 
Sigismund's  power.  The  next  day,  March  20th, 
Frederic  of  Austria  gave  a  great  tournament  and 
everybody  went  to  see  it,  and  while  town  and  palace 
were  so  empty  the  Pope  dressed  himself  in  a  groom's 
clothes,  mounted  a  groom's  horse,  rode  unrecognized 
out  of  the  gates  and  away  to  Ermatingen.  There  a 
boat  was  ready,  and  the  swift-flowing  Rhine  soon 
carried  him  to  Schaffhausen,  which  was  Austrian  ter- 
ritory, and  where  Frederic  had  a  castle. 

Excited  enough  was  Constance  when  the  flight 
became  known.  Tumultuous  crowds  of  ecclesiastics 
and  laymen  filled  the  streets,  and  the  merchants 
began  to  shut  their  shops ;  but  the  police  were  well 
organized,  and  before  a  riot  could  materialize,  peace 


TJic  Sermon  of  Gerson.  1 7  7 

and  order  were  restored.  Sigismund  immediately 
summoned  the  council,  and  three  cardinals  and  an 
archbishop  were  appointed  to  go  to  Schaffhausen  and 
beg  the  Pope  not  to  dissolve  the  council,  but  to  as- 
sent to  the  scheme  of  appointing  proctors  to  carry 
out  his  resignation.  While  the  session  was  going  on 
a  letter  was  brought  to  the  emperor  from  the  Pope, 
stating  that  he  had  gone  to  Schaffhausen  for  his  health 
and  greater  freedom  of  action,  and  that  he  intended 
fully  to  carry  out  his  abdication,  the  letter  ending 
with  the  enormous  and  transparent  lie  that  his  flight 
had  been  entirely  without  the  knowledge  of  P"rederic 
of  Austria. 

The  council  now  took  a  tremendous  step.  It  com- 
missioned Gerson,  the  well-known  theologian,  to 
preach  a  sermon  defining  the  basis  of  its  authority, 
and  so  he  did  on  the  23d  of  March.  He  laid  down 
the  general  principle  that  the  head  of  the  church  is 
Christ,  the  Pope  being  only  head  under  Him.  The 
union  between  Christ  and  the  church  is  indissoluble, 
but  not  so  with  the  union  between  the  church  and 
the  Pope,  which  can  be  dissolved,  A  Pope  is  neces- 
sary, but  not  any  particular  Pope,  for  a  council  can 
remove  a  Pope  if  necessary ;  and  it  has  the  power, 
being  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  pass 
laws  which  even  popes  arc  bound  to  obey.  A  gen- 
eral council  may  be  assembled  without  the  consent 
or  the  call  of  the  lawful  Pope,  as,  for  example,  if  he 
were  under  accusation  and  refused  to  call  the  coun- 
cil, or  if  there  were  more  than  one  claimant  of  the 
Papacy. 

The  opinion  of  the   University  of  Paris  was  also 


178    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

read  to  the  council,  and  such  an  opinion  at  that  time 
carried  great  weight.  Tliis  opinion  concluded  that 
the  Pope  could  not  dissolve  the  council,  for  to  do  so 
would  involve  him  in  the  sin  of  schism ;  that  the 
whole  church  is  more  than  the  Pope  and  superior  to 
him ;  that  the  Pope  holds  his  power  through  the 
church  and  as  its  representative,  and  that  a  council,  if 
necessary,  might  depose  him,  just  as  any  one  would 
have  the  right  to  take  a  sword  out  of  the  hand  of  a 
lunatic.  These  views  were  approved  by  all  the  na- 
tions, even  the  Italian,  excepting  the  cardinals,  who, 
although  a  majority  of  them  were  Frenchmen,  sat 
with  the  Italian  nation  as  being  the  Pope's  council. 
The  cardinals  had  thought  it  more  consistent  with 
their  dignity  and  their  relations  to  the  Pope  not  to 
be  present  at  Gerson's  sermon.  One  cannot  help 
pitying  the  cardinals,  for  they  really  did  not  know 
what  to  do.  Much  as  they  disapproved  of  the  Pope 
and  heartily  as  they  were  ashamed  of  him,  he  was 
still  their  head,  and  as  he  asserted  positively  that  he 
was  intending  to  abdicate,  they  felt  it  their  duty  to 
stand  by  him,  and,  like  all  people  trying  to  be  on 
both  sides  of  a  fence,  they  came  in  for  a  great  deal 
of  suspicion  from  all  parties.  John  summoned  them 
to  attend  him  at  Schaflfhausen,  and  seven  of  them 
obeyed,  together  with  the  household  officers  of  the 
papal  court. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  why  John  did 
not  dissolve  the  council  and  excommunicate  all  who 
opposed  him.  It  would  not  have  taken  Hildebrand 
long  to  launch  the  proper  bull,  but  John,  unlike  Hil- 
debrand, had  behind  him  a  bad  hfe  and  the  sense  of 


The  Session  of  March  26th.  179 

a  weak  cause.  He  seems  to  have  lost  his  grip,  to 
have  doubted  his  own  authority,  and  he  did  nothing 
but  scold  and  storm  and  lie,  so  that  each  eflusion  of 
his  only  served  to  sink  him  lower  in  the  estimation  of 
the  council.  That  body  was  daily  awakening  to  a 
fuller  and  higher  sense  of  its  dignity  and  authority. 

Vexed  with  the  shifting  of  tiie  cardinals,  the  council 
authorities  did  not  even  summon  them  to  the  meeting 
which  was  held  March  26th  to  prepare  decrees  for  the 
general  session,  and  the  cardinals  who  had  remained 
at  Constance  determined  to  stay  away  from  that  ses- 
sion, but  the  two  most  distinguished  of  their  number 
did  attend.  One,  D'Ailly,  celebrated  mass,  and  the 
other,  Zabarella,  read  the  decree  which  had  been 
prepared,  affirming  that  the  council  was  not  dissolved 
by  the  Pope's  flight  and  ought  not  to  be  dissolved 
until  they  had  ended  the  schism ;  that  it  could  not 
be  transferred  to  another  place,  and  that  the  mem- 
bers must  stay  until  the  work  was  done.  As  soon  as 
the  cardinal  had  finished  reading  that  decree  he  took 
out  another  paper  and  read  it,  being  a  protest  on  the 
part  of  D'Ailly  and  himself  against  precipitate  action, 
stating  that  as  long  as  John  professed  willingness  to 
end  the  schism  they  must  hold  to  him.  They  were 
present,  they  said,  not  for  pleasure,  but  because  they 
thought  it  their  duty,  and  with  the  hope  that  the 
Pope  would  confirm  the  decrees.  This,  on  their  part, 
was  a  wise  and  courageous  action,  and  saved  their 
order,  for  the  council  was  rapidly  coming  to  that 
pass  where  it  would  not  care  whether  the  cardinals 
attended  or  not. 

The  envoys  who  had  been  sent  to  Schaffhausen 


i8o    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

returned  with  offers  from  the  Pope  to  appoint  certain 
cardinals  as  proctors  with  power  to  carry  out  his 
resignation  against  his  will,  promising  also  not  to 
dissolve  the  council  till  the  church  was  united.  This 
seemed  a  fair  proposition,  but  when  the  envoys  were 
unwise  enough  to  say  that  the  Pope's  withdrawal  had 
dissolved  the  council,  it  made  all  that  the  Pope  had 
written  so  suspicious  that  his  words  were  considered 
mere  subterfuges  and  evasions  and  passed  for  nothing. 

The  tide  had  risen,  and  the  council  was  going  to 
act,  if  necessary,  without  either  Pope  or  cardinals,  for 
it  was  realizing  that  it  represented  the  church.  John 
did  not  feel  himself  secure  at  Schaffhausen,  for  Fred- 
eric could  no  longer  protect  him,  since  the  Swiss  and 
the  empire  were  both  arming  against  him.  On  March 
29th  the  Pope  galloped  off  to  the  Castle  of  Lauffen- 
berg,  farther  up  the  Rhine ;  but  not  a  cardinal  went 
with  him ;  all  returned  to  Constance.  Angry  and 
anxious  as  they  felt  at  the  pretensions  of  the  council 
to  command  a  Pope,  they  resolved  to  attend  the  gen- 
eral session  called  the  fourth,  which  had  been  ap- 
pointed for  March  3  ist ;  and  only  two  remained  away, 
D'Ailly  and  the  Cardinal  of  Viviers.  It  was  a  mem- 
orable day.  Cardinal  Orsini  presided,  and  the  em- 
peror, crowned  and  robed  in  the  imperial  mantle, 
was  present  with  a  great  crowd  of  nobles. 

The  decrees  prepared  were  intrusted  to  Cardinal 
Zabarella  to  read.  He  seems  to  have  been  ordinarily 
the  reader  to  the  council,  probably  from  his  possess- 
ing a  clear  voice.  He  began  :  "  This  council,  lawfully 
assembled  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  form- 
ing a  general  council  representing  the  Catholic  Church 


The  Difficulty  over  the  Decree.        i8i 

militant,  has  its  power  immediately  from  Christ ;  and 
every  one  of  every  rank,  even  the  Pope,  is  bound  to 
obey  it  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  faith  and  the 
extirpation  of  the  present  schism."  The  next  words 
were,  "  and  the  general  reformation  of  the  church  of 
God  in  its  head  and  members,"  but  the  cardinal  did 
not  want  to  read  those  words.  He,  with  his  breth- 
ren, did  not  wish  to  acknowledge  that  the  council 
had  power  to  reform  the  church ;  they  thought  that 
cardinals'  work ;  so  he  stumbled  over  the  words,  and 
stammered,  and  lowered  his  voice.  Immediately 
there  arose  a  tumult  of  voices  calling  out  "Read"  and 
"Do  not  read."  More  and  more  angry  they  grew, 
so  that  nothing  else  that  he  read  was  heard,  and  the 
session  broke  up  in  fierce  anger  against  the  cardinals. 

In  a  few  days,  April  6th,  another  session  was  held, 
when  the  decree  was  read  in  its  entirety  and  with  a 
loud  voice  by  the  Archbishop  of  Posen.  The  part 
following  the  words  which  Zabarella  had  slighted 
declared  that  the  Pope  could  not  adjourn  the  council 
to  any  other  place,  or  summon  his  court  to  attend 
him  anywhere  else,  and  that  all  promotions  made 
henceforth  by  him  were  null  and  void. 

The  Pope's  ally,  Frederic  of  Austria,  had  now  been 
put  under  the  ban  of  the  empire,  and  before  a  month 
was  over  had  to  kiss  the  dust  before  Sigismund  and 
abandon  all  idea  of  protecting  the  Pope.  John  mean- 
while was  dodging  about  from  one  town  to  another, 
a  wretched  fugitive.  From  Lauffenberg  he  went  to 
Freiberg  in  the  Breisgau,  and  from  thence  to  l^reisach, 
and  then  to  Neuenburg  ;  then  back  to  Freiberg,  where 
a  deputation  from  the  council  found  him  on  April  27th, 


1 82    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  extorted  from  him  a  promise  to  send  proctors  to 
the  council  in  a  few  days. 

The  deputies  returned  to  Constance,  and  on  May  2d 
the  council  cited  John  to  appear  and  answer  to  charges 
of  heresy  and  schism  and  scandals  of  life,  and  this 
citation  was  nailed  to  the  gates  of  Constance.  April 
1 8th  was  quite  an  important  day  for  the  council,  for 
on  it  the  cardinals  presented  a  series  of  propositions 
declaring  that  the  Roman  Church  had  authority  over 
a  general  council,  meaning  by  the  Roman  Church  the 
body  of  the  cardinals  in  Rome.  They  contended 
that  the  Roman  Church  or  the  Pope  had  just  as  much 
authority  from  God  over  the  universal  church  as  a 
general  council,  and  that  without  the  assent  of  the 
Roman  Church  nothing  could  be  decided  by  a  coun- 
cil. The  theologians  whom  they  addressed  found  it 
was  not  as  easy  to  answer  the  whole  college  of  cardi- 
nals as  the  wicked  Pope. 

The  cardinals  certainly  were  valid  representatives, 
and  nobody  could  question  their  authority.  The 
opponents  of  the  cardinals  could  not  deny  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  was  the  head  of  all  churches,  for 
on  that  principle  the  whole  church  had  for  centuries 
been  governed ;  but  they  tried  with  great  ingenuity 
to  make  out  a  difference  in  councils.  In  councils 
about  matters  of  faith,  they  said,  the  Church  of  Rome 
must  take  the  lead,  but  in  councils  called  to  extin- 
guish a  schism  caused  by  cardinals  it  was  not  proper 
for  cardinals  to  interfere.  The  Sacred  College,  how- 
ever, carried  its  point,  and  sat,  as  it  had  ever  sat,  in 
the  council;  nay,  more,  in  the  session  of  May  25th 
it  ranked  as  a  separate  nation  and  voted  as  such. 


Report  on  Jolms  Character.  183 


On  May  9th  a  troop  of  three  hundred  men,  com- 
manded  by  the    Burgrave  of  Nuremberg,   went  to 
Freiberg  to  bring  John  to  Constance.      He  pleaded 
for   delay  and    empowered   the    three    cardinals   of 
Cambray,  St.  Mark's,  and  Florence  to  act  as  his  proc- 
tors ;  but  they  were  thoroughly  disgusted  with  him, 
and  'refused  to  act  in  his  behalf  or  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  matter.      He  was  left  to  h  s  fate,  and 
on  the  14th  of   May,  141 5.  he  was  condemned  for 
contumacy  and  declared  suspended  from   his  func- 
tions.      Commissions  were   now  appointed   to  take 
evidence  about  John's  life  and   administration,  and 
black  and  awful  was  the  tide  of  accusation  which 
rolled    in    upon    them.       There    were    seventy-two 
charges  formulated,  but  some  were  mere  repetitions 
of  others,  and  there  is  scarcely  any  nameable  crime  or 
sin  which  does  not  appear  in  this  indictment.     The 
Pope  was  charged  with  incest  with  his  brother's  wife, 
with    rape,    adultery,    sodomy,    poisoning,    murder, 
simony,  and  utter  want  of  religion.     Sixteen  of  the 
charges  were  so  indescribable  that  by  common  con- 
sent they  were  dropped,  but  on  the  strong  testimony 
of  the  rest  the  council  pronounced  the  sentence  of 
deposition. 

The  soldiery  had  brought  John  to  Rudolfzell,  eight 
miles  from  Constance,  and  it  was  there  that  the  sen- 
tence of  deposition  was  made  known  to  him.  He 
made  no  resistance,  gave  up  his  seal,  pulled  off  the 
ring  of  the  fisherman,  said  that  of  his  own  free  will 
he  surrendered  the  Papacy,  and  that  he  never  would 
attempt  to  resume  it.  That  promise  he  certainly 
kept,  perhaps  because   no   one  would  help  him   to 


184    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

break  it.  He  was  brought  to  the  Castle  of  Gottloben, 
just  outside  the  walls  of  Constance,  where  John  Huss 
was  a  prisoner;  then  transferred  to  Heidelberg,  under 
the  guard  of  the  elector  palatine,  where  he  lived  for 
nine  years.  Afterward  he  raised  a  large  sum  of  money 
and  bought  his  liberty  from  the  elector.  He  went 
then  to  Florence,  and  was  made  Cardinal  Bishop  of 
Frascati  by  Martin  V.,  but  died  in  Florence  before 
taking  possession  of  his  new  see.  John  as  a  military 
man  might  have  made  a  fine  record,  for  in  those 
times  his  vices  in  a  soldier  would  have  counted  for 
little ;  but  as  a  Pope  he  was  an  utter  and  horrible 
failure,  and  alienated  from  him  even  the  most  fanatic 
devotees  of  the  Papacy. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE   TRIAL    OF   JOHN    HUSS. 

OW  that  the  momentous  business  of  Pope 
John  was  gotten  out  of  the  way,  the  coun- 
cil turned  its  attention  towards  the  extir- 
pation of  heresy,  and  the  fathers  went  into 
^  that  subject  with  a  will  in  order  to  show 

the  Christian  world  that  however  much  they  might 
have  seemed  to  touch  on  the  dignity  of  Pope  and 
cardinals  and  to  pursue  a  democratic  course,  there 
was  not  one  spark  of  desire  among  them  to  allow  the 
least  tampering  with  the  faith.     They  acted  as  per- 
sons often  act  who,  to  throw  off  imputations  of  sloth 
in  one  direction,  manifest  surprising  activity  m  an- 
other.   Gerson,  D'Ailly,  and  others,  liberal  and  mod- 
erate as  their  statements  had  been  about  papal  domi- 
nation, the  terrible  condition  of  the  clergy,  and  urgent 
need  of  reformation,  did  not  mean  any  reformation 
in  doctrine  or  any  change   in  the  authority  of  the 
clergy  and  the  finahty  of  their  decisions.     If  Huss 
had  any  idea  that  they  or  any  one  else  in  the  council 
sympathized  at  all  with  him,  he  was  doomed  to  bitter 

disappointment. 

185 


1 86    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Much  as  we  may,  and  very  properly,  blame  Sigis- 
mund  about  the  safe-conduct,  it  is  only  justice  to  say 
that  if  Huss  were  brought  before  a  council  of  any  of 
the  great  religious  bodies  to-day,  while  they  would 
not  condemn  him  to  be  burned, — for  all  that  has 
passed  away,  thank  God,  from  the  life  of  the  church, 
and  punishment  of  the  body  is  no  longer  used  as  a 
punishment  of  the  soul, — yet  it  would  be  impossible 
for  them  to  avoid  condemning  many  of  his  doctrines. 
For  example,  his  view  (copied  from  Wyclif,  as  most 
of  his  views  were,  his  treatises  often  being  literal 
transcriptions  of  Wyclif's  writings)  in  regard  to  the 
sinfulness  of  a  priest  destroying  all  the  efficacy  of  his 
acts  and  annulling  all  his  title  to  property ;  what  re- 
ligious body  could  endure  that?  Who  is  to  decide 
about  the  sinfulness  ?  How  easy  for  a  grasping  king 
to  decide  that  six  or  seven  rich  bishops  were  in  mortal 
sin,  and  therefore  had  no  right  to  their  property,  and 
proceed  to  take  it  all  away !  Who  could  be  certain 
whether  he  had  been  properly  baptized,  or  whether 
he  received  a  true  eucharist,  if  the  efficacy  of  all  these 
things  depended  on  the  morality  of  the  priest?  It  is 
evident  that  now  as  then  any  such  opinion  would 
destroy  any  religious  organization  in  the  world,  and 
it  was  the  same  with  the  civil  authority.  If  Huss's 
assertion  be  true,  that  "  a  king  in  mortal  sin  is  no 
king  before  God,"  what  security  could  there  be  for 
any  ruler?  At  any  moment  demagogues  might  ex- 
cite the  people,  saying,  "  The  king  is  leading  a  sinful 
life  and  is  therefore  no  longer  the  rightful  king."  A 
"  sinful  life  "  would,  of  course,  be  their  conclusion 
as  to  what  was  sinful,  and  it  might  easily  be  held  by 


Political  Errors  of  John  Huss.        187 

many  that  smoking,  hunting,  card-playing,  were  in- 
fallible proofs  that  the  king  was  living,  in  mortal  sin. 

Even  a  superficial  thinker  must  see  that  all  such 
views  are  utterly  subversive  of  law  and  order,  and 
there  is  no  question  that  the  political  theories  of 
Wyclif  and  Huss  were  thoroughly  pernicious  and 
revolutionary.  They  could  not  be  tolerated  in  our 
day  any  more  than  centuries  ago.  Huss  cleared 
himself  of  any  unorthodox  Roman  views  of  transub- 
stantiation,  or  worship  of  the  saints,  or  of  any  of  the 
great  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  Even  in  regard 
to  communion  in  both  kinds,  he  was  not  willing  to 
assert  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  a  perfect 
communion.  He  even  managed  to  steer  clear  of 
heresy  in  the  subtleties  of  nominalism  and  realism, 
but  he  certainly  laid  himself  open  to  the  gravest  cen- 
sure in  regard  to  civil  or  ecclesiastical  position  de- 
pending on  the  moral  worthiness  of  the  holder  of 
that  position.  Mournful  as  is  the  spectacle  of  a  sin- 
cere and  true-hearted  man  burned  to  death  for  oi)in- 
ions  conscientiously  held,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
council  labored  hard  to  save  him  from  himself  and 
that  they  tried  long  and  perseveringly  to  induce  him 
to  give  up  what  they  very  rightly  thought  soul-de- 
stroying errors.  This  will  be  seen  from  an  account 
of  the  proceedings. 

On  May  4,  141 5,  in  the  eighth  session  of  the  coun- 
cil, Wyclif's  writings  were  publicly  condemned  and 
ordered  to  be  burned,  and  his  bones  were  ordered  to 
be  dug  up  from  consecrated  ground  and  burned.  It 
is  difficult  to  see  how  the  friends  of  Huss  could  have 
had  much  hope  after  that,  for,  as  has  been  said,  Wye- 


1 88    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

lif  was  Huss's  model  and  teacher  in  many  things; 
but  they  had  plenty  of  courage  and  on  May  i6th 
presented  a  petition  to  the  council  asking  for  Huss's 
release  from  prison.  To  this  the  Patriarch  of  Anti- 
och,  speaking  for  the  council,  replied  that  they  would 
not  and  could  not  release  an  untrustworthy  man  from 
prison,  but  that  he  should  be  heard  in  a  public  au- 
dience, which  was  fixed  for  June  5th.  On  that  day 
Huss  appeared,  and  the  original  manuscripts  of  his 
work  "  On  the  Church  "  and  other  treatises  of  his 
were  shown  him.  He  acknowledged  their  genuine- 
ness, and  then  commenced  the  reading  of  charges  based 
on  his  written  words.  When  asked  questions,  Huss 
would  not  answer  yes  or  no,  but  proceeded  to  argue 
and  quote  the  fathers.  This  did  not  at  all  suit  the 
council,  and  the  angry  reproaches  and  abusive  calls 
became  so  intolerable  that  it  was  impossible  to  go  on, 
and  the  investigation  was  adjourned  for  two  days. 

On  June  7th  the  emperor  appeared  to  preserve 
order,  and  proclaimed  that  any  one  making  a  dis- 
turbance would  be  put  out  of  the  room.  As  an  ex- 
ample of  the  difficulty  of  dealing  with  Huss,  it  may 
suffice  to  say  that  when  Cardinal  Zabarella  cited  the 
verse,  "  In  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  shall 
every  word  be  established,"  and  added  that  there 
were  twenty  witnesses  on  every  charge  against  Huss, 
the  accused  repHed,  "  If  God  and  my  conscience  wit- 
ness for  me  that  I  never  taught  what  I  am  accused 
of  teaching,  I  am  not  concerned  with  the  testimony 
of  my  enemies."  To  this  Cardinal  d'Ailly  fairly  and 
justly  answered,  "  We  cannot  possibly  judge  you  from 
the  standpoint  of  your  conscience,  but  from  the  tes- 


Sigismtind  Reiioimces  Huss.  189 

timony  laid  before  us."  Huss  could  not  be  made  to 
see  the  force  of  this,  for  with  him  his  own  conscience 
was  everything,  and  he  seemed  totally  oblivious  of 
the  fact  that  other  people  also  had  consciences.  We 
admire  his  courage,  but  we  cannot  approve  his  rea- 
soning. His  friend,  John  of  Chlam,  made  a  very 
impolitic  remark  at  this  stage  of  the  proceedings, 
which  greatly  angered  the  emperor.  He  said  that 
"  there  were  many  castles  in  Bohemia  where  Huss 
could  have  been  hidden  away  from  the  emperor,  if 
he  had  not  of  his  own  free  will  chosen  to  come  to 
Constance."  Sigismund  then  and  there  publicly 
gave  Huss  up.  He  declared  that  his  safe-conduct 
had  been  given  so  that  he  might  have  a  hearing  be- 
fore the  council ;  now  he  had  had  it,  and  his  duty  was 
to  submit.  "  If  not,"  Sigismund  added  significantly, 
"  the  council  will  know  how  to  deal  with  you  ;  as  for 
me,  so  far  from  defending  you  in  your  errors  and  in 
your  contumacy,  I  will  be  the  first  to  light  the  fire 
with  my  own  hands."  Huss  made  then,  as  before 
and  after,  the  same  vague  protestations  that  he  could 
not  go  against  his  conscience,  and  was  remanded  to 
prison. 

The  next  day  the  weary  work  began  again.  Thirty - 
nine  articles  taken  from  Huss's  writings  were  before 
the  judges,  and  D'Ailly  remarked  that  the  charges 
were  far  more  mildly  drawn  than  the  words  of  Huss 
would  justify.  The  discussion  turned  on  Huss's 
doctrine  that  the  true  church  consisted  only  of  the 
predestined  to  eternal  life,  and  therefore  only  virtuou.'^ 
persons  could  hold  any  office  in  the  church  ;  a  wicked 
Pope  or  priest  was  not  a  true  Pope  or  priest.      Huss 


190    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

gave  specious  explanations  of  this,  which  did  not 
satisfy  the  council,  and  would  not  satisfy  any  court. 

At  the  close  of  the  session,  Cardinal  d'Ailly  urged 
Huss  to  abjure  his  errors,  and  the  emperor  added  his 
entreaties  ;  indeed,  appeals  of  the  most  moving  nature 
were  made  to  him ;  but  he  would  not  listen,  and  was 
sent  back  to  prison.  As  soon  as  he  had  left  the  room, 
the  emperor  rose  and  said,  "  There  is  more  than 
enough  evidence.  If  he  will  not  forswear  his  errors, 
let  him  be  burned.  If  he  does  forswear  them,  he 
must  be  banished  from  Bohemia;  for  this  evil  must 
be  rooted  out  from  that  country.  When  I  was  a  boy 
this  sect  began  there,  and  look  how  it  has  increased 
and  multiplied."  The  Bohemian  nobles  who  heard 
these  words  boiled  with  rage,  and  they  were  very 
costly  words  for  Sigismund ;  for  the  Huss  party  was 
very  strong  in  Bohemia,  and  when  it  was  known  that 
the  emperor  had  pubHcly  said  that  Huss  ought  to  be 
burned,  deep  oaths  were  sworn  that  never  should 
Sigismund  be  their  king,  and  he  never  was  their  king 
in  any  peace  or  comfort. 

Every  effort  was  now  made  to  induce  Huss  to  re- 
tract. The  very  highest  personages,  among  whom 
Sigismund  was  foremost,  went  to  his  cell  and  pleaded 
with  him  to  recant.  Very  mild  forms  of  abjuration 
were  drawn  up,  but  he  would  not  sign  ;  yet  so  tender 
were  they  of  him  that  he  was  allowed  to  confess  and 
receive  absolution  without  any  abjuration.  His  con- 
duct seems  to  verge  on  obstinacy ;  but  certainly  no  one 
can  help  admiring  the  firm  face  set  against  the  very 
highest  in  power,  and,  harder  still  to  do,  the  firm  resis- 
tance to  words  of  love  and  entreaty.  The  martyrdom  of 


Final  Sentence  of  Huss.  1 9 1 

conscience  has  been  a  vital  power  in  the  world,  though 
often  that  conscience  has  been  misinformed  and 
overstrained. 

On  the  6th  of  July,  at  the  fifteenth  session  of  the 
council,  Huss  was  brought  in  for  his  final  sentence. 
He  was  made  to  wait  in  the  porch  until  mass  was 
over,  for  fear  that  such  a  heretic's  presence  would  be 
pollution.  Then  he  was  brought  in  to  listen  to  a 
sermon  on  heresy ;  but  he  spent  the  time  of  its  de- 
livery in  prayer.  The  charges  were  then  read,  and 
when  he  tried  to  interrupt,  he  w^as  silenced.  He  did 
manage  to  say,  and  as  he  said  it  the  emperor  could 
not  keep  the  blush  from  his  cheek,  that  he  had  come 
to  Constance  of  his  own  free  will,  trusting  in  the  im- 
perial safe-conduct.  He  was  then  degraded  from  the 
priesthood  with  solemn  ceremony,  every  article  of  the 
priest's  dress  being  put  upon  him  and  then  removed. 
His  tonsure  was  obliterated  by  clipping,  and  it  is 
amusing,  even  at  that  serious  moment,  to  read  that 
they  discussed  long  whether  they  should  use  razor 
or  scissors  to  do  it ;  scissors  carried  the  day.  Then 
a  paper  fool's  cap  painted  with  devils  was  put  on  his 
head,  and  a  bishop  said,  "  We  commit  thy  body  to 
the  secular  arm,  and  thy  soul  to  the  devil."  "  And 
I,"  said  Huss,  "  commit  it  to  my  most  merciful  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

He  was  then  led  away  to  a  meadow  near  the  town, 
where  the  stake  had  been  got  ready  for  the  burning. 
As  he  was  on  his  mournful  way,  he  was  taken  past 
a  burning  pile  of  his  own  books,  and  he  remarked 
dryly  that  he  did  not  see  how  they  could  condemn 
Bohemian  books,  since  not  one  of  them  could  read 


192    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

them.  Once  more  Duke  Louis  urged  him  to  recant, 
but  he  would  not ;  and  with  prayers  for  his  enemies, 
piteous  appeals  to  his  merciful  Saviour,  and  protes- 
tations that  he  had  not  been  fairly  tried,  he  soon 
succumbed  to  the  flames.  His  ashes  and  his  burned 
clothes  were  thrown  into  the  Rhine. 

Creighton  says  with  great  fairness  about  the  trial 
of  Huss,  "  It  is  impossible  that  a  trial  for  opinions 
should  ever  be  considered  fair  by  the  accused.  He 
is  charged  with  subverting  the  existing  system  of 
thought ;  he  answers  that  his  opinions,  if  rightly 
understood,  are  not  subversive,  but  amending.  Into 
that  issue  his  judges  cannot  follow  him;  they  are  ap- 
pointed to  execute  existing  laws,  and  until  these  laws 
are  altered  by  the  properly  constituted  authority  the 
best  attempts  to  amend  them  by  individual  protest 
must  be  reckoned  as  rebellion.  It  is  useless  to  criti- 
cise particular  points  in  the  trial.  The  council  was 
very  anxious  for  his  submission,  and  gave  him  every 
opportunity  to  make  it ;  but  it  is  the  glory  of  Huss 
that  he  so  deliberately  asserted  the  rights  of  his  in- 
dividual conscience  against  ecclesiastical  authority, 
and  sealed  his  assertion  with  his  own  life-blood." 

The  execution  of  Huss  set  Bohemia  all  in  a  blaze, 
and  the  council  tried  to  get  over  making  that  country 
the  present  of  another  martyr,  in  the  person  of  Jerome 
of  Prague,  a  great  friend  of  Huss,  and  the  one  who 
brought  him  Wyclif's  writings  from  England.  Jerome 
did  at  a  public  session,  September  23d,  retract  every- 
thing, and  in  all  justice  ought  to  have  been  set  free ; 
but  he  had  Bohemian  enemies  who  asserted  that  his 
recantation  was  not  sincere,  and  February  24,  14 16, 


Execution  of  Jerome  of  Prague.       193 

the  council  ordered  a  fresh  investigation.  We  cannot 
pursue  that.  An  ItaHan  gentleman  who  was  present, 
Poggio,  has  left  an  elegantly  written  account  of  Je- 
rome's eloquence,  wit,  and  learning  as  shown  in  his 
defence,  at  the  close  of  which  he  said  that  his  recan- 
tation had  been  through  fear  and  against  his  con- 
science, and  that  he  now  took  it  all  back.  He  thought 
Huss  a  just  and  holy  man,  and  he  was  ready  to  share 
his  fate.  Great  efforts  were  made  to  get  him  again 
to  abjure;  but,  as  he  would  not,  nothing  remained 
but  to  burn  him,  that  being  considered,  in  those  days, 
the  only  proper  or  possible  thing  to  do  with  a  heretic. 
So  on  May  30,  14 16,  he  was  sentenced,  and  led  away 
to  be  burned  on  the  very  spot  where  Huss  had  suf- 
fered. Out  of  consideration,  the  executioner  was 
about  to  light  the  fire  behind  him,  but  he  called  out, 
"  Light  it  before  my  face ;  I  am  not  afraid  of  death." 
His  ashes  also  and  his  burned  clothes  were  cast  into 
the  Rhine. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

THE  AFFAIRS  OF  GREGORY  AND  BENEDICT. 

HE  two  great  causes  of  the  Pope  and  the 
heretics  were  not  the  only  ones  which 
interested  the  council ;  there  was  the  still 
existing  schism,  for  Gregory  and  Bene- 
dict still  had  adherents.  Gregory  had 
proved  easy  to  deal  with.  He  seems  at  last  to  have 
appreciated  the  terrible  eflfects  of  the  schism,  and  to 
have  been  willing  to  do  what  he  could  to  put  an  end 
to  it.  On  the  4th  of  July,  141 5,  his  constant  and 
devoted  friend,  Malatesta,  lord  of  Rimini,  appeared 
as  his  proctor  and  formally  abdicated  in  his  name. 
The  council  winked  at  the  summons  to  that  particu- 
lar session  being  in  Gregory's  name.  He  had  wished 
that,  so  that  his  honor  might  be  saved,  and  his  notion 
that  only  a  Pope  could  call  a  session  of  a  council  be 
humored.  He  was  made  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Porto 
and  given  precedence  over  all  the  other  members  of 
the  college.  His  cardinals  were  recognized  and  in- 
vited to  take  seats  in  the  council  with  the  other  car- 
dinals without  any  conditions,  and  all  the  officials  he 
had  appointed  were  retained.  Poor  old  man !  he  did 
not  live  long  to  trouble  anybody,  but  died  before  the 
adjournment  of  the  council,  at  the  age  of  ninety. 
Benedict  proved  a  much  more  difficult  personage, 
194 


Negotiations  with  Benedict.  195 

and  there  were  to  be  some  weary  days  before  he  at 
last  could  be  disposed  of,  and  the  way  opened  for  the 
election  of  a  new  Pope.  The  Emperor  Sigisniund, 
in  whose  restless  brain  vast  projects  were  ferment- 
ing,— projects  of  being  the  universal  peacemaker,  the 
grand  conqueror  of  the  Turks,  and  other  marvellous 
schemes, — offered  to  try  and  arrange  with  Benedict 
and  his  supporters,  the  principal  ones  being  the  kings 
of  Scotland  and  Aragon.  The  council  accepted  his 
offer,  and  it  was  decided  that  Benedict  should  meet 
him  and  the  King  of  Aragon  at  Perpignan  in  June. 
Benedict  was  there  at  the  time  appointed,  but  Sigis- 
mund,  on  account  of  the  troubles  arising  about  the 
flightof  Pope  John  XXIII.,  could  not  keep  his  appoint- 
ment before  July.  Before  that  time  Benedict  had 
departed  in  a  huff  at  having  been  kept  waiting,  and 
it  was  not  until  September  i8th  that  the  three,  Ben- 
edict, Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  and  Sigismund,  were  got- 
ten together  at  Perpignan. 

Nothing,  however,  could  be  done  with  Benedict ; 
he  was  simply  an  obstinate  fool,  as  can  be  seen  from 
one  of  his  demands,  which  was  that  he  alone  should 
name  the  new  Pope,  since  he  was  the  only  cardinal 
who  had  been  appointed  by  Gregory  XI.  before  the 
schism  began.  Arguments  and  threats  proved  equally 
ineffectual ;  everybody  grew  disgusted  with  him,  and 
even  his  great  supporter,  St.  Vincent  Ferrer,  began 
to  preach  that  it  was  all  up  with  Benedict  now,  and 
that  the  Council  of  Constance  was  to  be  recognized. 
The  sovereigns  of  Germany  and  Aragon  were  deter- 
mined, however,  to  settle  the  question  for  which  they 
had  met,  and  on  December   13,   141 5,  they  agreed 


196    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 


on  certain  arrangements  at  Narbonne,  and  very  cir- 
cuitous arrangements  they  were  and  came  to  nothing. 

This  was  to  be  the  manner  of  proceeding:  The 
council  was  to  summon  all  the  princes  and  prelates 
who  held  to  Benedict  to  come  within  three  months 
to  Constance  and  form  a  council ;  and  Benedict  was 
to  summon  all  the  other  side  to  join  them  there  for 
the  same  purpose.  This  council,  which  was  to  include 
Benedict's  cardinals,  was  to  depose  Benedict,  elect  a 
new  Pope,  and  proceed  to  reform  the  church.  This 
was  not  such  a  conclusion  as  the  council  had  hoped 
for,  but  it  was  much  better  than  nothing,  and  now 
the  fathers  waited  as  patiently  as  they  could  for  the 
emperor  to  get  back  to  Constance  and  finish  up  the 
Benedict  business,  for  nothing  seemed  to  be  able  to 
get  itself  settled  without  him.  Sigismund,  however, 
was  not  ready  to  return  immediately.  He  wanted  to 
set  out  on  his  great  scheme  of  reconciling  France  and 
England,  and  he  reasoned  well  when  he  argued  that, 
until  they  were  reconciled,  reform  in  the  church  did 
not  stand  much  of  a  show. 

We  cannot  follow  the  emperor  in  his  showy  jour- 
neys, which  cost  him  a  great  deal  of  money  and 
plunged  him  over  ears  in  debt,  although  he  pawned 
all  the  presents  he  received  on  the  way.  He  was  not 
at  all  successful  in  his  mission  to  France,  and  only 
moderately  so  in  England ;  and,  after  an  absence  of 
a  year  and  a  half,  he  got  back  to  Constance  January 
27,  141 7,  very  much  Anglicized,  with  the  Order  of 
the  Garter  conspicuously  displayed,  and  loud  words 
of  admiration  for  England.  Such  conduct,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  exasperated  the  French  and  fanned  the 


The  Commissioti  of  Reform.  197 

flame  of  discord  already  kindled  between  these  two 
nations  at  the  council. 

Things  had  dragged  very  much  in  Constance  since 
his  going  away,  and  the  fathers  were  very  tired  of  the 
long-drawn-out  gathering.  They  had  hoped  to  get 
away  by  Easter,  141 5,  then  by  September,  14 16,  and 
here  it  was  January,  141  7,  and  they  were  still  there. 
A  commission  on  reform  had  been  appointed  in  July, 
141 5,  thirty-five  in  number  (eight  from  each  nation, 
and  three  cardinals) ;  but  the  divisions  were  so  great 
that  it  progressed  backward.  On  one  side  were  the 
French,  with  the  English  and  the  Germans  sometimes 
with  and  sometimes  against  them,  and  on  the  other 
side  the  cardinals  and  Italians.  The  great  subject  in 
dispute  was  the  support  of  the  Pope.  The  reformers 
wanted  him  to  live  on  his  own  revenues,  and  stop  the 
everlasting  and  exhausting  drain  on  the  religious 
foundations  all  over  Europe;  but  the  cardinals  pro- 
tested that  the  Pope  had  so  little  property,  and  Italy 
was  so  poor,  that  he  would  be  penniless,  and  if  he 
was  so,  why  they  would  be  much  more  so. 

The  tax  on  which  the  French  prelates  laid  the  most 
stress  and  wliich  they  worked  the  hardest  to  abolish 
was  that  called  "annates,"  or  the  payment  made  to 
the  court  of  Rome  by  any  bishop,  rector,  or  abbot  on 
taking  possession  of  his  benefice.  This  had  swollen  so 
much  of  late  years  that  it  virtually  absorbed  the  rev- 
enues of  the  first  year  of  incumbency.  The  French 
had  to  pay  the  most  of  this  simply  because  the  gov- 
ernment did  not  fight  against  it,  as  had  always  been 
done  in  Philip  the  Fair's  time.  The  English  would 
only  pay  for  bishops,  not   for  abbots  and   rectors; 


198    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  in  Germany  and  Italy  the  civil  authorities  inter- 
posed all  sorts  of  objections,  which  made  the  tax 
difficult  to  collect  in  those  countries.  This  heavy 
burden  made  the  French  struggle  hard,  but  the  other 
nations,  not  intending  to  pay  much  of  it,  were  not 
very  zealous  and  the  cardinals  fought  the  French 
tooth  and  nail,  so  that  their  laudable  desire  failed  of 
approval.  Nor  could  the  nations  agree  on  the  reform 
of  the  monastic  orders,  nor  on  simony ;  and  all  these 
things  worked  against  harmony. 

The  greatest  obstacle  to  any  harmony  was,  how- 
ever, the  wearisome  case  of  Jean  Petit.  Petit  was  a 
Paris  lawyer,  the  defender  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
when  accused  of  murdering  the  king's  brother,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans.  This  was  years  before  the  council 
met,  and  Jean  Petit  died  in  the  meantime ;  but  there 
was  a  violent  quarrel  among  scholars  as  to  his  opinions. 
The  fact  is  that  his  opinions  were  monstrous,  being 
nothing  else  than  legalizing  murder.  The  French 
wanted  the  council  to  condemn  these  opinions,  which 
were  called  the  "  Eight  Verities  "  ;  but  the  majority 
took  the  ground  that  they  were  only  philosophical 
notions,  and  were  not  within  the  province  of  the 
council,  which  was  concerned  only  with  matters  of 
faith.  This  was  not  true,  for  they  opposed  the  very 
ground  principles  of  Christianity ;  and  the  French 
knew  it,  and  the  indifference  of  the  council  much 
annoyed  them,  so  that  they  were  in  no  mood  to 
agree  with  anybody  when  Sigismund  returned.  The 
Spaniards,  having  now  renounced  Benedict,  came  into 
the  council  as  a  fifth  nation,  and  this  was  a  crumb  of 
comfort  to  the  French ;  for  the  Spaniards  sided  with 


Sentence  of  Benedict.  199 

them  against  the  English,  and,  in  fact,  signalized  their 
admission  to  the  council  by  moving  that  the  English 
be  no  longer  counted  in  the  council  as  a  nation,  but 
be  incorporated  with  some  other.  This  raised  a  fine 
quarrel,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  got  under,  and  then 
only  for  a  time. 

One  of  the  first  things  done  on  the  return  of  Sig- 
ismund  was  to  proceed  with  the  affair  of  Benedict. 
He  had  been  cited  on  November  28,  1416,  to  appear 
at  Constance  within  seventy  days  and  answer  to  the 
charges  against  him.  The  citation  was  renewed  at 
Peniscola,  a  little  castle  to  which  Benedict  had  re- 
treated, January  22,  141 7.  The  officers  sent  by  the 
council  were  monks,  and  when  they  came  into  his 
presence  the  old  Pope  exclaimed,  "  Here  come  the 
crows  of  the  council!"  "Yes,"  some  one  in  the  au- 
dience muttered;  "and  crows  gather  around  a  car- 
cass." As  the  citation  was  read,  Benedict  every  now 
and  then  would  say,  "  A  lie."  Back  went  the  depu- 
tation to  Constance  with  the  report  that  Benedict 
would  do  nothing.  On  April  i,  14 1 7,  the  council 
declared  him  guilty  of  contumacy,  but  it  was  not 
until  July  26th  that  sentence  was  passed  on  him, 
and  he  was  pronounced  a  schismatic,  a  heretic,  and 
a  disturber  of  the  peace,  deprived  of  all  rank,  and 
"  lopped  off  like  a  dry  bough."  Tiie  bells  of  Con- 
stance rang  for  joy  over  this  sentence.  It  was  a 
general  holiday,  and  it  now  seemed  as  if  the  schism 
was  really  at  an  end.  This  was  the  last  public  notice 
of  Benedict.  He  remained  at  Peniscola  playing  at 
Pope,  a  lonely  and  deserted  old  man,  who  passed 
away  a  few  years  after,  unhonored  and  forgotten. 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 

THE   ARRANGEMENTS    FOR   THE   ELECTION — 
MARTIN   V. 

IGISMUND  had  returned  the  last  of  Jan- 
uary, 141 7,  and  early  in  March  the  French 
party  determined  to  attack  the  English 
party ;  for  politics  in  Constance  had  quite 
as  much  influence  with  the  council  as  re- 
ligion. The  aflfair  of  Huss  was  championed  by  Sig- 
ismund  quite  as  much  to  break  the  power  of  the 
Czechs  as  to  put  down  heresy.  The  Jean  Petit 
aflfair  was  purely  a  question  of  French  politics,  and 
now  the  old  hatred  between  France  and  England 
was  to  find  expression  in  this  august  body  summoned 
to  reform  the  church. 

As  soon  as  the  election  of  a  new  Pope  seemed  im- 
minent by  the  clearing  away  of  the  Benedictine  and 
Gregorian  factions,  the  question  of  votes  became 
important.  It  will  be  remembered  that  it  had  been 
arranged  that  the  members  of  the  council  should  vote 
by  nations  and  not  by  individuals.  The  "nations" 
were  at  first  four,  but  the  coming  in  of  the  Spaniards 
increased  them  to  five. 

The  French  now  raised  this  question.     Benedict 


Contests  of  the  French  and  English.   201 

XII.,  they  said,  had  recognized  in  Christendom  four 
nations,  Italian,  German,  Spanish,  and  French.  While 
Spain  was  not  present  in  the  council  England  had 
been  allowed  to  sit  as  a  nation  to  keep  up  the  num- 
ber four;  but  now  that  the  Spaniards  were  in,  the 
English  ought  to  be  counted  with  the  German  nation, 
as  Benedict  XII.  had  arranged,  and  ought  only  to 
vote  with  it.  If  this  were  not  done,  the  mode  of  vot- 
ing by  nations  ought  to  be  abolished.  The  French 
were  not  able  to  get  in  this  protest  without  great 
hissing  and  noise,  and  the  emperor  put  a  quietus  on 
it  by  saying  that  nothing  could  be  read  in  the  coun- 
cil upon  which  the  nations  had  not  agreed  in  general 
meeting.  The  English  were  naturally  very  angry, 
and  they  also  put  in  a  paper,  in  which  they  annihi- 
lated the  French  with  statistics.  The  English  crown, 
they  said,  ruled  over  eight  kingdoms  (unless  you 
count  the  little  Irish  kingdoms,  it  would  be  hard  to 
understand  this) ;  had  fifty-two  thousand  parish 
churches,  and  France  only  six  thousand  (this  must 
be  a  much  exaggerated  statement) ;  one  hundred  and 
ten  dioceses,  while  France  had  only  sixty ;  and — 
convincing  argument — had  been  converted  by  Joseph 
of  Arimathea,  while  France  owed  her  religion  to  a 
much  less  important  personage,  Dionysius  the  Are- 
opagite. 

This  question  disposed  of,  there  came  up  the  burn- 
ing question,  "  Shall  a  Pope  be  elected  after  the 
reforms  are  decreed,  or  shall  the  election  take  place 
first  and  the  reforms  be  effected  afterwards  ?  "  There 
was  much  to  be  said  on  both  sides  of  this  question, 
and  it  was  said  by  both  sides  with  much  vigor.     It 


202    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 


was  argued,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  those  times 
with  great  justice,  that  the  church  must  have  a  head 
and  must  have  one  immediately,  that  it  was  perfectly 
incomplete  without  it,  and  that  any  attempt  to  reform 
it  in  its  present  mutilated  state  would  amount  to 
nothing.  On  the  other  hand,  members  of  the  coun- 
cil were  reminded  that  the  reason  why  the  Council 
of  Pisa  had  been  such  a  failure  was  because  they  had 
allowed  the  election  of  a  Pope  to  put  off  reform,  and 
the  very  pointed  argument  was  used  that  the  papal 
office  needed  reforming  as  much  as  anything  else,  and 
unless  that  were  reformed  before  a  Pope  came  in,  he 
might  turn  around  and  block  any  interference  whatever 
with  his  office.  On  the  side  of  reform  stood  Sigis- 
mund  with  the  English  and  Germans,  and  on  the  side 
of  the  election  the  cardinals,  the  Italians  and  Span- 
iards, and  the  French,  seemingly  for  no  other  good 
reason  than  to  be  opposed  to  the  English. 

It  was  a  weary  battle.  Deluges  of  words  were 
poured  forth  on  all  sides,  sermon  after  sermon,  protest 
after  protest.  The  cardinal  or  the  curial  party,  as  it 
is  better  called,  feeling  sure  of  three  votes  out  of  the 
five,  took  a  bold  step,  and  on  September  9,  141 7, 
put  in  a  paper  before  a  general  congregation,  pro- 
testing against  the  delay  in  the  election,  and  declar- 
ing that  the  church  was  taking  great  harm  from  it. 
This  action  made  Sigismund  very  angry,  and  he,  with 
a  large  party,  rose  and  left  the  cathedral.  His  tem- 
per was  not  improved  by  hearing  some  one  shout 
after  him,  "  Let  the  heretics  go."  The  cardinals  de- 
termined to  force  their  hand,  and  got  up  the  report 
that  the  emperor  intended  to  use  troops  to  overawe 


DiJJic2ilties  over  the  Election.  203 

the  council ;  and  the  CastiHans,  with  a  great  show  of 
fear,  prepared  to  leave  Constance  ;  but  the  city  police 
blocked  their  way.  This  game  infuriated  the  em- 
peror, and  he  ordered  the  cathedral  closed  against 
the  cardinals ;  but  they  came  and  sat  on  the  steps  of 
the  bishop's  palace,  and  called  aloud  for  freedom. 

The  emperor  saw  he  was  going  too  far,  and  on 
September  nth  a  general  congregation  was  held,  at 
which  the  cardinals  were  present.  There  they  put 
in  another  protest,  which  utterly  ignored  the  English, 
and  in  which  they  speak  of  themselves  as  a  body 
separate  from  the  nations,  and  say  that  they  and 
three  nations  were  anxious  to  proceed  to  a  vote,  and 
they  washed  their  hands  of  all  consequences  from 
delaying  it.  This  delay  they  charged  directly  upon 
Sigismund  and  the  Germans.  The  reason  why  the 
English  were  thus  snubbed  was  because  they  had  just 
lost  by  death  their  powerful  head,  Robert  Hallam, 
Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  passed  away  September 
7th.  He  had  kept  them  firmly  to  the  side  of  Sigis- 
mund, but  now  they  seemed  to  be  headless  and  very 
wavering. 

It  can  be  imagined  into  what  a  fury  their  immi- 
nent defection  threw  the  emperor,  and  his  violent 
words  gave  rise  to  renewed  reports  that  he  intended 
to  use  force.  The  cardinals  diligently  fanned  the 
flame,  and  went  about  wearing  their  red  hats  to  show 
they  were  ready  for  martyrdom.  This  produced  its 
effect :  the  German  party  dwindled  away,  and  the 
sturdy  emperor  had  to  show  signs  of  concession. 
Early  in  October  he  gave  his  consent  to  the  election 
of  a  Pope,  but  wanted  a  guarantee  that  as  soon  as 


204    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

the  election  was  over,  and  before  the  coronation,  re- 
form should  begin.  The  cardinals  very  properly  said 
that  they  had  no  right  to  pledge  for  the  Pope.  They 
did,  however,  pass  some  reform  measures,  embodied 
in  the  decree  "  Frequens,"  given  in  full  by  Von  der 
Hardt.  This  provided  that  a  general  council  should 
be  held  in  five  years,  and  then  another  in  seven 
years,  and  after  that  every  ten  years.  In  case  of  a 
schism,  one  could  be  convoked  at  any  time.  No  prel- 
ate could  be  translated  against  his  will,  nor  could 
the  Pope  take  possession  of  the  fortunes  of  deceased 
ecclesiastics. 

Now  again  rose  the  ghost  which  would  not  be 
laid,  "  Who  were  to  vote?"  The  cardinals  knew  very 
well  that  they  could  not  hope,  as  usual,  to  be  the 
only  electors,  but  they  intended  to  fight  hard  to  re- 
duce the  opposition  as  low  as  possible.  Confusion 
worse  confounded  reigned  in  the  council,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  all  the  years  of  debate  and  worry  would 
amount  to  nothing,  when  a  Dens  ex  machina  appeared 
in  the  shape  of  Henry  Beaufort,  Bishop  of  Winches- 
ter, half-brother  to  the  King  of  England,  Henry  IV., 
a  keen  politician  and  a  man  of  great  wisdom.  He 
managed  to  reconcile  the  contending  parties,  and  it 
was  agreed  that  the  council  should  pass  a  decree 
guaranteeing  reform  work  after  the  election  of  a  Pope, 
that  the  reform  measures  on  which  the  nations  had 
agreed  should  immediately  come  before  the  council, 
and  that  a  commission  should  be  appointed  to  arrange 
the  mode  of  election. 

The  commission  was  immediately  named,  October 
nth,  and  two  propositions  were  laid  before  it.     One 


Mode  of  Election  Arranged.  205 

was  by  the  Germans,  that  each  nation  should  appoint 
fifteen  electors,  and  that  the  fifteen  Italian  cardinals 
should  represent  the  Italian  nation.  The  other  was 
by  the  French,  and  was  the  one  adopted :  the  elec- 
tion to  be  made  by  the  cardinals  and  six  deputies  from 
each  nation,  thirty  in  all,  two  thirds  of  the  cardinals 
and  two  thirds  of  the  deputies  to  agree  before  an  elec- 
tion could  be  made.  This  did  not  get  arranged  until 
October  30th,  and  decrees  were  then  published  pro- 
viding that  the  Pope,  with  the  council  or  with  chosen 
deputies,  should  reform  the  church  in  its  head  and 
the  Curia  on  eighteen  points  agreed  to  by  the  reform 
commission.  The  council,  struggling  in  the  last  gasps 
of  independence,  decreed  also  that  it  could  not  be 
dissolved  until  the  Pope  had  granted  reform. 

This  seems  a  sorry  outcome  after  all  the  earnest 
talk  about  reform — eighteen  points  only,  and  the 
fathers  not  to  do  that  even  themselves,  but  to  help 
the  Pope  do  it.  The  simple  fact  was  that  the  Sacred 
College,  with  that  astuteness  which  has  generally 
marked  it,  had  bided  its  time,  and  now,  when  every- 
body was  weary  to  death  of  the  long,  protracted 
council,  it  with  steady  persistence  stuck  to  its  colors 
and  carried  its  points. 

And  now  the  election  was  to  take  place.  It  did 
not  consume  much  time,  for  this  legislative  body,  like 
many  others  of  our  own  day,  rushed  through  in  the 
greatest  haste  the  most' important  act,  months  of  de- 
bate having  been  wasted  over  the  pettiest  things. 
The  usual  rooms  for  the  electors,  fifty-three  in  num- 
ber, twenty-three  being  cardinals,  were  prepared  in 
the  Kaufhaus,  which  is  still  standing,  and  on  Novem- 


2o6  The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

ber  8th  everything  was  ready.  High  mass  was  sung 
in  the  cathedral,  and  the  Bishop  of  Lodi,  who  seems 
to  have  been  the  favorite  preacher  of  the  council 
gave  a  sharp  sermon  on  the  words,  "  Look  even  out 
the  best "  (2  Kings  x.  3),  in  which  he  said  he  hoped 
they  would  give  the  church  a  better  Pope  than  it  had 
had  for  forty  years.  The  electors  then  went  into  the 
conclave,  all  the  Roman  formalities  being  carefully 
observed.  As  they  went  in,  each  man  took  the  em- 
peror by  the  hand  and  swore  to  make  a  true  and 
honest  choice.  Before  noon  on  November  iith  the 
election  was  made,  and  the  choice  was  gladly  an- 
nounced to  the  eager  crowd  outside :  "  We  have  a 
Pope,  Cardinal  Oddo  [or  Otho]  Colonna,  and,  being 
St.  Martin's  day,  he  has  taken  the  name  of  Martin 
V."  Sigismund  flew  to  the  Kaufhaus  and  kissed  the 
papal  foot.  Martin  mounted  on  horseback,  and 
through  the  enormous  crowd — eighty  thousand, 
some  writers  say — the  procession  moved  to  the 
cathedral,  the  emperor  holding  the  right  bridle  and 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  the  left.  The  Pope  was 
placed  on  the  altar  of  the  cathedral,  and  sat  there  for 
hours,  while  the  people  passed  joyfully  before  him. 
The  great  schism  was  ended  ;  let  us  now  review  some 
of  its  terrible  effects,  not  to  be  overcome  in  many  a 
year. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE    EFFECTS    OF    THE    SCHISM. 

EFORE  continuing  the  history  of  the 
Council  of  Constance,  it  may  be  well,  now 
that,  by  the  election  of  Martin  V.,  unity 
was  restored  to  Western  Christendom,  to 
note  briefly  the  condition  of  the  church, 
the  ruin  that  schism  had  worked  in  it,  and  the  effect 
upon  the  common  life  of  the  people.  It  is  not  pre- 
tended that  all  the  evils  rampant  were  the  direct  fruits 
of  the  division ;  many  of  them  had  been  in  existence 
for  centuries;  but  they  were  now  intensified  and  ag- 
gravated beyond  measure.  That  the  church  should 
have  survived  these  horrible  years,  and  should  be 
now  vigorous,  aggressive,  and  the  great  vis  viedica- 
trix  of  the  world,  is,  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
one  thing,  a  proof  of  her  divine  origin  and  the  im- 
possibility of  the  "  gates  of  hell  "  prevailing  against 
her.  Her  wounds  were  not  from  strangers,  but  re- 
ceived in  the  house  of  her  friends,  and  therefore  the 
more  grievous  and  piercing. 

There  is  no  lack  of  literature  on  the  subject  of  the 
state  of  the  church  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Von 
der  Hardt  has  made  a  great  collection  of  it,  which 

207 


2o8    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

has  been  freely  drawn  upon  by  all  historians.  Among 
the  most  famous  treatises  are :  "  On  the  Ruin  of  the 
Church,"  probably  by  Nicolas  de  Clemanges;  "On 
the  Difficulty  of  Reform"  and  "The  Necessity  of 
Reforming  the  Church  in  Head  and  Members,"  by 
Cardinal  d'Ailly,  though  some  think  by  Dietrich  von 
Niem ;  "  Petitions  for  the  Reform  of  the  Church 
Militant,"  by  Richard  Ullerston,  an  Englishman  ;  and 
the  "  Squalors  of  the  Roman  Curia,"  by  the  Bishop 
of  Worms,  in  1405. 

The  great  causes  of  complaint  were  the  corruption 
/  and  sensuality  of  the  clergy,  which,  as  is  ever  the 
;  ^  case,  reacted  upon  the  laity ;  the  prostitution  of  the 
cure  of  souls  to  the  love  of  money,  so  that  every- 
where benefices  were  bought  and  sold ;  and  the  tre- 
„  mendous  exactions  and  abuses,  simoniacal  and  other- 
"^  wise,  of  the  papal  court.  Takeindulgences,  for  example 
(Froude) :  "  Pardons,  dispensations,  and  indulgences, 
permissions  to  do  things  which  would  be  wrong  with- 
out them,  or  remissions  of  penalties  prescribed  by 
the  canon  for  offences,  indulgences  which  were  ex- 
tended by  popular  creduHty  to  actual  pardon  for  sins 
committed,  were  issued  whenever  the  Pope  wanted 
money.  Sorrowing  relatives,  uneasy  for  the  fate  of 
a  soul  in  purgatory,  could  buy  out  their  friend  at  a 
fixed  rate  of  charges.  The  results  were  calculated 
beforehand.  Averages  could  be  taken  from  repeated 
experience.  Sometimes  a  capitalist  contracted  on 
speculation  for  the  anticipated  sum,  sometimes  the 
batch  was  disposed  of  by  recognized  officials  resident 
in  the  various  countries.  The  price  was  high  or  low, 
according  to  the  papal  necessities,  or  according  to  the 


Low  Morals  of  the  Clergy.  209 

magnitude  of  the  sins  to  which  it  would  reach ;  but 
no  one  could  possibly  be  so  innocent  as  not  to  need 
an  indulgence  for  somethiny;." 

Complaints  of  these  things  came  from  all  parts  of 
Europe;  the  far  north  seemed  to  have  been  as  great 
a  sufferer  as  the  extreme  south.  In  many  dioceses 
there  were  two  bishops, — for  example,  in  Breslau, 
Mayence,  Liege,  Basel,  Liibeck,  Constance, — one  an 
Urbanist,  one  a  Clementine.  It  can  easily  be  imagined 
what  confusion  arose  in  the  minds  of  laymen  as  to 
which  was  their  true  superior;  for  the  Clementines 
would  preach  that  the  Urbanist  masses  were  blas- 
phemy, and  the  Urbanists  would  retort  in  the  same 
strain.  In  many  cases  public  worship  was  altogether 
stopped,  for  the  differences  between  the  parishioners 
and  the  poverty  of  the  priests  made  it  impossible  to 
keep  the  churches  open.  The  profligacy  of  the  clergy 
was  everywhere  a  matter  of  complaint.  One  writer 
says  :  "  The  priests  frequent  brothels  and  taverns,  and 
spend  their  time  in  drinking,  revelling,  and  gambling. 
They  fight  and  brawl  in  their  cups,  and  with  their 
polluted  lips  blaspheme  the  name  of  God  and  the 
saints,  and  from  the  embraces  of  prostitutes  hurry  to 
the  altar."  Nor  were  many  of  the  friars  any  better 
than  the  parish  priests.  Popular  tracts  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  everywhere  speak  of  them  in 
the  coarsest  terms.  Chaucer  ( 1 340-1400),  in  his  Can- 
terbury pilgrimage,  gives  incidentally  the  general 
estimate  of  a  friar  in  his  time. 

Even  long  after,  the  evil  had  not  been  rooted 
out ;  for  Erasmus,  speaking  of  some  criticisms  on 
his  famous  book,  "Moria,"  or  the  "Praise  of  Folly," 


2IO    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

says :  "  Had  I  seriously  wished  to  describe  monks 
and  theologians  as  they  really  are,  '  Moria '  would 
seem  a  mild  performance  by  the  side  of  what  I 
should  have  written.  I  do  not  condemn  religious 
houses,  but  ask  yourself  what  trace  of  piety  is  now 
to  be  found  in  such  houses  beyond  forms  and  cere- 
monies. How  worse  than  worldly  almost  all  of  them 
are! " 

Even  of  nunneries  Clemanges  says,  "  It  is  about 
equal  to  sending  a  girl  to  prostitution  to  put  her  in 
a  nunnery."  Priests  guilty  of  the  greatest  offences, 
if  they  could  raise  a  little  money,  got  off  scot-free. 
In  very  many  instances  bishops  sold  licenses  to  priests 
to  keep  concubines.  Indeed,  this  was  so  general  in 
Norway  and  Sweden  that  women  living  in  this  way 
were  socially  respected,  and  parishes  often,  for  the 
protection  of  their  families,  insisted  that  the  rector 
should  take  a  concubine  and  pledge  himself  to  be 
faithful  to  her.  Boccaccio,  by  the  conversation  he 
puts  into  the  mouths  of  refined  people  in  the 
"  Decamerone,"  conversation  which  in  our  day  would 
scarce  be  heard  in  a  barrack- room,  let  alone  a 
company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  shows  how  low 
was  the  standard  of  morality  among  such  people. 
The  lives  of  some  of  the  popes  were  stained  with  sin, 
and  that  such  a  person  as  John  XXIII.  could  ever 
have  been  freely  elected  the  Vicar  of  Christ  speaks 
volumes  for  the  miserable  tone  of  Christian  living 
which  everywhere  prevailed.  Money  may  be  wor- 
shipped now,  and  venality  common  enough,  but  the 
church  of  to-day  is  as  white  as  driven  snow  com- 
pared with  the  subserviency  to  money  which  then 


Exemptio7is  and  OtJier  Abuses.       211 


prevailed.  The  popes  of  the  schism  were  always 
impecunious,  for  the  schism  stopped  the  flow  of 
wealth  into  the  papal  coffers,  and  all  sorts  of  dishon- 
est and  unfair  expedients  were  resorted  to  in  order 
to  raise  funds.  It  was  wittily  said  that,  while  there 
might  be  some  doubt  whether  Peter  was  ever  at 
Rome,  there  could  be  none  about  Simon's  presence 
there.  Popes  fleeced  bishops,  bishops  priests,  and 
priests  their  flocks. 

Even  if  a  bishop  was  a  man  of  pure  character,  and 
anxious  to  reform  his  diocese,  he  was  confronted  im- 
mediately with  "exemptions."  For  example,  if  he 
had  a  dissolute  monastery  in  his  diocese,  and  wished 
to  reform  it,  the  monastery  would  get  together  a 
good  sum  of  money,  often  selling  the  church  plate  to 
make  it  up,  and  send  off  to  Rome  to  purchase  an  ex- 
emption from  episcopal  authority,  becoming  a  "  pe- 
culiar," so  that  the  bishop  had  no  authority  within 
its  walls.  Even  to  this  day  Westminster  Abbey  en- 
joys that  privilege.  All  sorts  of  favors  could  be  pur- 
chased at  the  papal  bureaus  for  money.  Men  would 
buy  ten,  twelve,  eighteen  benefices,  and  ne\er  go 
near  one  of  tliem.  but  hire  at  .'^tar\-ation  prices  some 
wandering  priest  to  give  irregular  ministrations,  while 
they  spent  the  rest  of  the  income  in  luxury. 

The  rival  obediences,  anxious  to  curry  favor  with 
the  powers  that  be,  often  granted  to  secular  rulers 
concessions  which  endangered  the  liberties  of  the 
church  and  subjected  it  to  the  most  shameful  humil- 
iations. Laymen  were  in  a  maze  of  doubt  and  dis- 
trust, and  thousands  lost  all  faith  and  fell  away  into 
utter  evil  living  or  infidelity,  which,  as  far  as  the 


2 1 2    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

dogmas  of  the  church  were  concerned,  was  kept  very- 
secret  for  fear  of  the  Inquisition,  thus  engendering 
terrible  hypocrisy. 

It  was  no  wonder  that  heresy  spread ;  the  church 
had  only  herself  to  blame  for  it.  Indeed,  the  schism 
gave  birth  to  all  sorts  of  fanatical  sects  and  to  num- 
berless false  prophets.  People  believed  everywhere 
that  Antichrist  was  coming,  and  more  than  one  bold 
preacher  maintained  that  the  Pope  was  Antichrist. 

The  most  widely  circulated  false  prophecy  was  that 
of  Telesphorus,  an  Italian.  He  says  the  schism  was 
a  punishment  for  the  sins  and  crimes  of  the  Roman 
Church  and  clergy,  and  he  prophesies  that  all  that 
will  come  to  an  end  in  1393,  when  the  antipope  would 
be  slain  in  Perugia,  and  the  church  be  completely 
renovated,  renouncing  all  property.  A  new  Pope 
and  a  new  emperor  would  then  appear,  and  that  em- 
peror would  be  a  Frenchman.  The  whole  bearing 
of  this  prophecy  shows  its  author  to  have  been  a 
fierce  French  partisan.  Henry  of  Hesse  answered 
this  wide-spread  nonsense,  and  opposes  the  principle 
it  laid  down  that  the  clergy  ought  to  be  deprived  of 
their  wealth.  He  shows  very  clearly  that  it  would 
be  perfect  madness  to  teach  laymen,  already  too 
grasping,  that  they  had  the  right  to  take  possession 
of  church  property  under  the  pretext  of  reform. 

The  spoliation  of  the  clergy  was  a  favorite  theme 
with  all  these  fourteenth-century  prophets,  and  it 
was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when  men  were  con- 
stantly witnessing  such  avarice  and  greed  and  simony 
in  the  highest  church  positions.  Everywhere,  espe- 
cially in  Germany,  was  there  growing  a  great  hatred 


Protests  against  the  ChurcJis  Worldliness.  213 

of  the  clergy,  and  in  Mayence,  in  1401,  the  cry 
"Death  to  the  priests!"  often  resounded  through 
the  streets.  Faulty  as  the  Inquisition  was,  it  did 
good  service  often  in  shutting  the  mouths  of  blas- 
phemers and  revilers  of  all  good.  One  sect,  called 
the  sect  of"  Free  Thought,"  taught  that  by  a  devout 
contemplation  of  the  Godhead  you  could  come  to  be 
one  with  God,  absolutely  perfect  and  incapable  of 
sinning.  No  commandments  were  binding  on  the 
perfect,  and  this  was  carried  into  practice  with  a  ven- 
geance. 

But  the  very  number  of  sermons  and  treatises  on 
the  state  of  morals  and  discipline  proves  that  all 
Christians  were  not  sunk  in  sin  and  indifference;  the 
fervor  of  the  protests  shows  that  the  wide  chasm 
yawning  between  the  devout  life  as  Christ  com- 
manded it  and  the  life  then  led  was  deeply  felt  and 
struggled  against.  Devout  men  drew  closer  together. 
The  mystics,  as  will  be  seen  in  a  future  chapter,  were 
a  large  and  powerful  body.  The  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life  were  a  very  oasis  in  the  dry  and  filthy 
desert  of  the  monastic  orders.  This  century  gave 
birth  to  that  immortal  book,  "  The  Imitation  of 
Christ."  Preachers  all  on  fire  with  the  love  of  God 
and  man  were  to  be  found  everywhere,  and  in  many 
a  humble  home  fervent  prayers  went  daily  up  from 
pure  hearts  that  God  would  have  mercy  upon  His 
church.  There  is  a  letter  of  Gerard  Groot,  of  De- 
venter,  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Vienna,  in  which  he 
wishes  that  both  the  popes  and  all  the  cardinals 
could  be  transported  to  heaven  and  sing  "  Gloria  in 
Excelsis"  there,  and  another  line  bring  peace  and 


214   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

unity  on  earth.  It  is  sad  to  think  that  the  members 
of  the  Council  of  Constance  were  so  well  aware  of 
the  frightful  state  of  the  ordinary  life  of  Christians, 
and  that  they  should  have  done  so  little  to  heal  the 
wounds  inflicted  by  the  sins  of  her  sons  on  our  com- 
mon Christianity. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


JOHN    WYCLIF. 

NDOUBTEDLY  one  of  the  most  famous 
men  of  the  fourteenth  century  was  John 
WycHf;  indeed,  it  was  said  at  that  time 
that  the  four  greatest  schoolmen  of  the 
century^were  Duns  Scotus,  Occam,  Brad- 
wardine,  and  WycHf.  His  direct  influence  was,  how- 
ever, very  transitory,  and  the  Reformation  which  took 
place  long  after  under  Luther  and  Calvin  bears  but 
little  trace  of  having  drawn  any  insi)irati<)n  from  the 
great  English  protester.  One  great  reason  is  that 
Wyclif's  religious  belief,  similar  as  it  was  to  that  of 
the  after  Reformers,  was  so  mixed  up  with  i)olitical 
theories  that  it  failed  of  its  due  spiritual  eflect ;  the 
dangerous  tendency  of  some  of  his  ideas  about  the 
state  very  much  neutralized  the  noble  and  enlight- 
ening tendency  of  his  creed. 

He  was  born  at  a  small  village  named  Spresswell, 
near  to  old  Richmond  in  Yorkshire,  close  to  the  Tees 
River;  there  were  descendants  of  his  name  at  l^ar- 
nard  Castle  at  the  beginning  of  this  century. 
•  The  exact  date  of  his  birth  cannot  be  given,  but 
it  was  between  1320  and  1324.     He  entered  Oxford 

215 


2i6    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

University  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and,  although  that 
classic  place  was  by  no  means  as  beautiful  or  as  well 
appointed  as  it  is  to-day,  it  had  many  more  students, 
the  numbers  running  up  into  the  thousands.  There 
were  only  five  colleges  then,  and  it  is  not  accurately 
known  to  which  Wyclif  belonged,  or  who  were  his 
teachers,  though  thirty  years  of  his  life  were  mostly 
spent  there.  He  undoubtedly  went  through  the  "seven 
arts,"  the  usual  curriculum,  and  studied  theology  and 
canon  law.  His  writings  show  that  he  was  familiar 
with  Latin,  but  was  totally  ignorant  of  Hebrew  and 
Greek.  He  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  losric  and 
dialectics,  which  was  natural,  for  in  his  time  an  over- 
valuation of  logic  prevailed  in  all  the  universities  of 
Europe;  and  in  the  disputes  and  tourneys  of  logic 
which  were  constantly  taking  place  he  held  the  very 
front  place,  and  his  university  was  very  proud  of 
him.  He  was  fellow  of  Merton  College,  and  of 
course  a  priest,  in  1356,  master  of  Baliol  in  1360,  and 
Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall  in  1365  ;  soon  after  that 
he  was  made  a  doctor  in  theology.  He  held  several 
livings,  and  was  a  pluralist,  like  most  of  the  promi- 
nent clergy  of  his  time. 

It  was  about  the  year  1 366  that  Wyclif  came  for- 
ward as  an  English  statesman  and  patriot,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  opposing  the  usurpations  of  the 
Papacy  against  the  rights  of  the  crown,  and  the  tak- 
ing of  so  much  money  out  of  the  country  for  the 
papal  court  at  Avignon,  and,  as  a  necessary  corollary 
to  this  last,  the  secular  and  worldly  lives  led  by  so 
many  of  the  clergy.  As  an  Englishman  he  was  op- 
posed to  a  French  Pope,  and  as  a  Christian  to  the 


Wyclifs    Theory  of  Dotninion.         217 


enjoyment  of  rich  livings  by  men  who  took  not  the 
slightest  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their  par- 
ishes. He  thought  these  intruders  ought  to  be  dis- 
possessed, and  that  the  state  ought  to  force  them 
out.  So  far,  so  good,  and  most  thinking  English- 
men agreed  with  him ;  but  the  theory  by  which  he 
attempted  to  sustain  these  propositions  led  him  into 
much  trouble  and  practically  ruined  his  influence. 
It  is  called  the  theory  of  dominion,  and  amounts  to 
this:  "To  God  alone  [Sheldon]  belongs  unqualified 
dominion;  He  alone  has  the  unrestricted  right  to 
property.  Men  have  only  a  delegated  right,  and  this 
delegated  right  they  forfeit  by  mortal  sin.  Tenure 
of  property  depends  upon  the  state  of  grace  in  the 
holder." 

But  it  will  be  better  to  give  his  exact  words,  so 
that  the  rock  on  which  he  split  may  be  clearly  seen : 
"  God  is  and  has  dominion  over  all.  Each  man  in 
his  degree  is  bounden  to  serve  God,  and  if  he  do  not 
render  this  service  he  is  no  lord  of  goods  of  true 
title ;  for  he  that  standeth  in  grace  is  the  true  lord  of 
things,  and  whoever  faileth  by  default  of  grace  fall- 
eth  short  of  the  right  title  of  that  which  he  occupieth, 
and  maketh  himself  unfit  to  have  the  gifts."  Now 
the  champions  of  Wyclif  may  try  to  explain  this  away 
if  possible ;  but  it  seems  to  teach  clearly  a  doctrine 
so  revolutionary,  so  socialistic,  indeed,  so  destructive 
of  civil  and  religious  order,  that  it  is  no  wonder  it 
damaged  greatly  Wyclifs  cause  ;  and  when  the  Eng- 
lish peasants,  under  John  Ball,  attempted  to  reduce 
it  to  practice  it  so  disgusted  the  great  mass  of  Eng- 
lishmen   that    they   disregarded    generally   Wyclifs 


2i8   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

teachings ;  and  it  forms  a  complete  explanation  of 
the  entire  and  total  neglect  into  which  Wyclifism  fell 
in  England,  however  much  it  flourished  in  Bohemia, 
under  the  teaching  of  John  Huss,  who  adopted  in  all 
their  fulness  Wyclif's  political  views. 

To  repeat  somewhat  the  discussion  already  men- 
tioned in  the  case  of  John  Huss,  who  is  to  be  the 
judge  of  a  holder  of  property  being  in  mortal  sin? 
Suppose  the  state  is;  just  think  how  easy  it  would 
be  then  for  a  greedy  king  to  say  to  any  occupant 
of  paying  church  property,  "  You  are  in  mortal  sin, 
and  I  confiscate  your  goods."  Suppose  the  democ- 
racy is  (as  in  the  John  Ball  insurrection  the  rebels 
assumed) ;  if  they  are  opposed  to  a  ruler  they  have 
only  to  declare  with  one  voice,  "  He  is  in  mortal  sin," 
and  his  goods  will  then  fall  to  their  share.  Nothing 
could  be  more  vague  and  more  pernicious,  and  to  say 
that  Wyclif  only  held  this  as  a  theory  is  no  excuse. 
The  worst  anarchism  is  held  as  a  theory,  and  theo- 
ries are  very  apt  to  develop  into  practice  if  they  have 
a  chance. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Wyclif  was  arraigned  before 
the  church  authorities;  and  while  political  friends 
helped  him  at  first,  and  his  university  long  stood  by 
him,  yet  his  opinions  were  condemned  at  last  by  king 
and  clergy.  It  is  true  he  died  in  his  bed,  and  Fuller 
says  so  quaintly,  "  Admirable  that  a  hare  so  often 
hunted  with  so  many  packs  of  dogs  should  die  at  last 
sitting  quietly  on  his  form."  But  that  he  did  so  die, 
and  that  he  who  had  opposed  nearly  every  distinc- 
tive doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome  should  have 
remained  parish  priest  of  Latterworth  until  his  death, 


Wyclif's    Theory  of  t lie  CInirch.      219 

gives  much  color  to  the  assertion  of  Roman  writers 
that  he  recanted  his  errors.  If  lie  did  not, — and  his 
Protestant  biographers  all  vigorously  deny  it, — iiow 
can  he  be  exculpated  from  a  charge  of  performing 
duties  and  going  through  ceremonies  which  were  in 
direct  opposition  to  his  published  views?  I  do  not 
refer  to  his  censure  of  the  Pope,  for  the  very  best  of 
men  then  separated  the  Pope  from  the  church;  but 
the  daily  saying  the  mass,  the  holding  propert)',  the 
being  known  as  a  priest  in  subjection  to  a  worldly 
bishop,  his  well-known  views  on  transubstantiation 
and  image-worship — how  could  he  reconcile  all  these 
things  with  honor  and  consistency?  Roman  and 
Anglican  writers  have  asked  the  question  often,  and 
as  yet  there  has  been  no  sufficient  reply. 

He  seems  to  have  entirely  mistaken  the  nature  of 
the  church,  for  he  taught,  in  direct  contradiction  to 
Scripture,  that  it  consisted  only  of  holy  persons  who 
were  predestined  to  salvation,  and  he  held  that  the 
sacraments  were  vitiated  by  the  imperfections  of  the 
minister.  He  recognized  only  the  two  orders  of 
priest  and  deacon  ;  in  fine,  he  was  a  predestinarian 
in  religion,  a  Presbyterian  in  church  government,  and 
almost  a  Zwinglian  in  his  late  views  of  the  eucharist. 

But  no  matter  what  Wyclif's  views  on  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  polity  may  have  been,  three  things  he 
did  which  entitle  him  to  the  enduring  gratitude  and 
memory  of  all  English-speaking  people. 

One  is  well  expressed  by  Green  ("  History  of  the 
English  People  ")  in  these  words: 

"  With  an  amazing  industry  he  issued  tract  after 
tract  in  the  tongue  of  the  people  itself.     The  dry 


2  20    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

syllogistic  Latin  was  thrown  aside  and  the  schoolman 
transformed  into  the  pamphleteer.  If  Chaucer  was 
the  father  of  our  later  English  poetry,  Wyclif  is  the 
father  of  our  later  English  prose.  The  rough,  clear, 
homely  English  of  his  tracts,  the  speech  of  the  plough- 
man and  trader  of  the  day,  though  colored  with 
the  picturesque  phraseology  of  the  Bible,  is  in  its  lit- 
erary use  as  distinctly  a  creation  of  his  own  as  the 
style  in  which  he  embodied  it — the  terse,  vehement 
sentences,  the  stinging  sarcasms,  the  hard  antitheses, 
which  roused  the  dullest  mind  like  a  whip." 

A  second  thing  was  a  preaching  order  which  he 
instituted,  called  "  Poor  Priests."  They  took  no  pe- 
culiar vows,  but  went  about  preaching  in  plain  and 
even  vulgar  language  to  plain  people,  much  after  the 
manner  of  the  Salvationists  of  our  day.  They  totally 
discarded  the  far-fetched  and  forced  exegesis  of  that 
time,  and  dwelt  mainly  on  simple  gospel  truths  which 
the  commonest  men  could  understand.  They  and 
their  followers  were  nicknamed  Lollards.  The  deri- 
vation of  this  word  is  uncertain.  A  passage  of  Chau- 
cer would  seem  to  connect  it  with  loliuvi  ("  tares  ") : 

"  This  Lollere  here  will  prechen  us  somewhat; 
He  wolde  sowen  some  difficulte 
Or  sprengen  cockle  in  cure  clene  corn." 

A  more  probable  derivation  is  from  hilleii  ("  to  sing 
softly  "),  referring  to  the  soul-lulling  doctrines  their 
enemies  declared  they  held.  The  earliest  official  use 
of  the  word  is  in  a  mandate  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester 
against  five  priests :  "  Nomine  seu  ritu  Lollardorum 
confoederatos." 


The  ''Lollard  Conclusions^  221 


If  these  preachers  had  confined  themselves  simply 
to  the  gospel  of  salvation  and  to  the  familiarizing  the 
people  with  the  Holy  Bible  in  English,  they  would 
deserve  only  praise ;  but,  being  devoted  followers  of 
Wyclif,  they  of  course  adopted  his  political  theories, 
and  within  ten  years  after  his  death  those  views  had 
grown  so  popular  that  the  Lollard  party  was  strong 
enough  to  petition  Parliament  to  reform  the  church 
on  their  platform.  This  petition,  called  the  "  Lollard 
Conclusions,"  stated  that  all  temporal  possessions 
ruin  the  church,  that  the  priesthood  of  Rome  was  not 
the  priesthood  of  Christ,  that  kings  should  possess 
episcopal  rights,  that  all  war  was  against  the  princi- 
ples of  the  gosi:»el,  that  such  trades  as  goldsmith  and 
armorer  ought  to  be  put  down  by  law,  that  the  prin- 
cipal duty  of  a  priest  was  to  preach,  not  to  give  sac- 
raments, and  that  the  worship  of  images  is  sinful. 
Every  word  of  this  can  be  found  in  Wyclif's  writ- 
ings. A  popular  view  of  Lollardy  is  best  seen  in  the 
famous  political  poems  called  "  Visio  de  Petro  Plow- 
man," "Visio  de  Do  Well,"  "Visio  de  Do  Better," 
and  "  Visio  de  Do  Best."  These  poems  go  over  the 
general  subject  of  the  greed  and  sensuality  of  the 
monks,  and  the  low  tone  of  life  in  both  the  higher 
and  lower  classes.  They  well  deserve  study  for  their 
strong  and  nervous  English  and  their  curious  alliter- 
ative metre. 

Of  course  such  radical  doctrines  could  not  be  over- 
looked, and  when  Henry  IV.  came  to  the  English 
throne  it  is  probable  that  he  promi.sed  Arundel,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  as  a  reward  for  his  valuable 
aid,  that  he  would  do  all  he  could  to  put  down  Lol- 


22  2    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

lardy.  In  1400  Parliament  passed  the  act  for  which 
even  yet  Englishmen  blush,  "  De  comburendo  haere- 
ticos,"  and  an  active  persecution  of  the  Lollards 
began.  Arundel  in  1408  published  by  order  of  Con- 
vocation his  "  Constitutions,"  which  provide  that  no 
preacher  could  preach  without  a  license  from  the 
bishop,  that  he  must  let  the  shortcomings  of  the 
clergy  alone,  and  that  all  Lollard  books  and  Wyclif 
Bibles  were  to  be  destroyed.  The  best-known  per- 
son who  suffered  in  this  persecution  was  Lord  Cob- 
ham,  who  was  burned  quite  as  much,  though,  for  his 
political  as  his  religious  heresies.  If  it  is  asked  why, 
since  Lollards  were  so  abundant,  there  was  so  little 
resistance  made  to  these  persecutions,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  Lollard  denunciations  of  war,  made  to  a 
people  filled  with  the  martial  spirit  and  plunged  in 
the  fierce  war  with  France,  cooled  the  ardor  of  their 
partisans  and  made  the  nation  indifferent  to  their 
fate.  After  the  Council  of  Constance  Lollards  no 
longer  preached  in  public,  but  only  in  concealed 
places,  and  by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century 
scarcely  a  trace  of  Lollardy  remained.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  there  was  any  connection  at  all  between 
it  and  the  Reformation  under  Henry  VIII. 

But  Wyclif's  greatest  achievement  was  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  into  English.  Portions  of  it  had 
been  translated  before,  especially  the  Psalter  and  the 
four  gospels,  but  his  work  embraced  the  whole  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  while,  of  course,  his  ignorance  of  Greek 
and  Hebrew  and  his  reliance  upon  the  Vulgate  were 
great  hindrances  to  a  thoroughly  correct  version,  yet 
the  effect  of  thus  opening  the  whole  Word  of  God 


Death  of  Wyclif.  223 

to  the  common  people  was  tremendous  ;  and  Wyclif  s 
noble  prayer  well  deserves  quoting :  "  Help,  Lord, 
that  Thy  holy  gospel  may  be  known  and  held  fast 
by  Thy  simple  brethren,  and  cause  them  to  grow  in 
love  and  humility  and  patience,  and  with  joy  to  suf- 
fer death  for  Thee  and  Thy  law.  Amen,  Lord 
Jesus."  The  indirect  influence  of  this  great  work 
upon  subsequent  translations,  such  as  those  of  Tyn- 
dale  and  Coverdale,  was  very  great,  and  it  moulded 
wonderfully  the  speech  of  the  common  people;  but 
of  course  a  thoroughly  correct  translation  could  not 
be  made  by  a  man  witliout  knowledge  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew.  Even  our  last  revision,  without  really  in- 
tending it,  shows  by  frequent  returns  to  Wyclif's  text 
how  good  it  was.  Out  of  fifty-six  specimen  changes 
given  when  the  revision  was  first  published,  twenty- 
two  were  a  return  to  Wyclif.  He  translated  Jerome, 
for  he  knew  nothing  else  ;  yet  his  work  was  not  done 
slavishly,  but  with  intelligence. 

Wyclif  died  December  31,  1384,  and  in  1415,  as 
has  been  already  said,  the  Council  of  Constance  con- 
demned his  works  and  ordered  his  bones  to  be  re- 
moved from  consecrated  ground  and  the  ashes  cast 
into  the  neighboring  stream.  Wordsworth's  sonnet 
on  it  must  not  be  forgotten : 

"As  thou  these  ashes,  little  Brook,  wilt  bear 
Into  the  Avon,  Avon  to  the  tide 
Of  Severn,  Severn  to  the  narrow  seas, 
Into  main  ocean  they,  this  deed  accurst 
An  emblem  yields  to  friends  and  enemies, 
How  the  bold  teacher's  doctrine,  sanctified 
By  truth,  shall  spread,  throughout  the  world  dispersed." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CLOSE  OF  COUNCIL  OF    CONSTANCE — MARTIN   V. 

]|THO  COLONNA,  now  Martin  V.,  was 
by  far  the  best  choice  that  the  electors 
could  have  made ;  his  preeminent  merits 
will  explain  the  shortness  of  the  conclave. 
He  was  not  French,  and  that  pleased 
every  one  but  the  Frenchmen.  He  was  a  prince  of 
one  of  the  noblest  Roman  houses,  and  that  endeared 
him  to  all  Italians.  He  had  kept  himself  so  aloof 
from  all  the  squabbles  and  controversies  in  the 
council  that  Sigismund  had  the  highest  opinion  of 
him.  He  was  about  fifty  years  of  age,  and  Milman 
gives  the  following  sketch  of  him :  "  Of  the  highest 
birth,  irreproachable  morals,  with  the  reputation  of 
learning  in  the  canon  law,  in  only  two  points  had  he 
departed  from  the  calmest  moderateness,  in  both 
with  the  full  sympathies  of  the  council.  He  had 
been  strenuous  for  the  condemnation  of  Huss,  and 
he  had  followed  Pope  John  in  his  flight,  but  this 
would  find  excuse  as  an  act  of  generous  fidelity  to 
the  ruling  pontiff  and  a  falling  friend.  In  all  other 
respects  he  had  held  the  middle  course  with  great 
dignity,  no  stern  adversary  of  reformation,  no  alarm- 

224 


Coronation  of  Martini   V.  225 

ing  fanatic  for  change.  He  was  courteous  in  man- 
ner, short  and  sententious  in  speech,. quick  and  dex- 
terous, yet  cautious  in  business,  a  strict  and  even 
ostentatious  lover  of  justice.  His  enemies  could 
only  assert  that  much  craft  lurked  under  his  modera- 
tion. Later  in  life  his  prudence  degenerated  into 
avarice.  The  conduct  of  the  Pope  until  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  council  without  any  general  measure  of 
reform,  while  it  avoided  all  serious  offence  to  the 
emperor  or  to  the  more  formidable  advocates  of  re- 
form, displays  the  great  sagacity,  the  consummate 
policy,  of  Martin  V." 

Martin,  like  some  other  cardinals  of  that  time — 
and  there  have  been  examples  in  our  own  day  (Car- 
dinal Antonelli  being  one) — was  onl)-  in  minor  orders. 
He  was  a  cardinal  deacon,  but  that  docs  not  imply  that 
he  was  in  deacon's  orders  ;  cardinal  tleacons  are  often 
bishops.  He  was  now  on  three  successive  days  or- 
dained deacon,  priest,  and  bishop,  and  on  November 
2 1st  he  was  crowned  on  a  platform  in  front  of  the 
bishop's  palace.  According  to  ancient  custom — and 
it  still  continues  in  our  day — a  heap  of  tow  was  set 
on  fire,  and  as  it  quickly  burned,  a  voice  cried  out, 
"  So  shall  pass  away  all  the  glories  of  this  world." 

All  were  in  the  greatest  joy  over  the  new  Pope, 
and  there  seemed  rising  a  bright  sun  over  the  dark- 
ness of  the  church,  when  suddenly  a  cloud  came 
over  it  before  the  eyes  of  those  who  were  anxious 
for  reform.  One  of  the  first  things  Martin  did  was 
to  approve  the  rules  of  the  papal  chancery,  and  the 
rules  of  the  papal  chancery  were  the  foundation  and 
the  source   of  all   those   exactions   and   oppressions 


2  26    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

under  which  the  clergy  of  Europe  had  so  groaned. 
All  these  questions  of  annates,  reservations,  exemp- 
tions, etc.,  which  had  been  before  the  reform  com- 
mission, were  governed  by  these  rules,  and  here  they 
were  with  a  fresh  stamp  of  authority.  More  than 
all,  the  Pope  had  not  waited  to  ask  the  council 
whether  he  had  better  do  this,  but  he  had  of  his  own 
motion  given  his  sanction  to  this  worst  of  all  the 
papal  abuses.  This  was  a  hard  blow  to  all  those 
earnest  men  who  had  so  fondly  hoped  and  so  strenu- 
ously worked  for  reform,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that 
they  rushed  to  Sigismund  with  their  grievances ;  but 
he  grimly  said,  "  When  I  urged  that  reformation 
should  come  before  election,  you  would  not  hear  to 
me,  but  wanted  first  a  Pope.  Well,  you  have  got 
one  now ;  go  and  ask  him  to  reform.  My  power  has 
waned  since  the  Pope  was  chosen." 

This  speech  was  well  worth  a  reward,  and  the  Pope 
gave  him  a  very  substantial  one :  a  recognition  of 
his  position  as  King  of  the  Romans,  and  one  tenth 
of  the  church  revenues  of  three  German  provinces. 
The  emperor  was  in  terrible  straits  for  money,  and 
had  run  up  tremendous  bills  in  Constance.  His 
creditors  wanted  to  see  the  color  of  their  money  now 
that  the  council  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  he 
offered  all  his  silver  plate  in  payment.  They  ar- 
ranged to  take  it,  when  he  requested  that  instead  of 
it  they  would  take  all  his  silken  hangings  and  tapes- 
tries. This  they  also  agreed  to,  but  when  they  got 
them  found  they  were  nearly  useless,  as  they  were 
all  embroidered  ^\  ith  the  imperial  arms.  There  was 
many  a  failure  after  the  council  among  the  substan- 


TJic  Concordats  with  the  Nations.     227 

tial  business  men  of  Constance,  on  account  of  the 
emperor's  unpaid  bills. 

The  partisans  of  reform  would  not  give  uj)  the 
struggle,  and  now  each  nation  came  to  the  Pope 
with  separate  proposals.  This  was  just  what  the 
astute  pontiff  wanted ;  he  could  make  separate  trea- 
ties with  each  country,  and  using  their  divitled  inter- 
ests to  play  one  against  the  other,  they  would  never 
be  likely  to  unite  against  the  Papacy.  The  Germans 
wanted  the  number  of  cardinals  limited  and  more 
Germans  appointed,  and  insisted  strongly  on  the  re- 
striction of  the  papal  power  in  diocesan  affairs.  The 
Pope  in  very  wary  and  very  guarded  language  agreed 
that  there  should  be  fewer  cardinals,  that  they  should 
be  taken  from  the  different  nations,  and  that  Ger- 
many should  always  have  its  share.  He  also  con- 
sented in  very  many  cases  to  give  up  the  right  of 
nomination,  and  promised  to  take  great  care  that 
indulgences  were  only  used  in  rare  instances. 

The  "  Concordat "  with  the  English  was  received 
with  silent  contempt  in  England.  The  English  felt 
themselves  so  protected  by  the  statutes  of  premunire 
and  provisors  that  they  did  not  trouble  themselves 
about  any  possible  oppression  from  the  Pope.  The 
French  Concordat  met  with  very  little  more  favor  in 
France.  The  king,  indeed,  declared  himself  ready 
to  obey  the  council,  with  the  far-reaching  proviso, 
"so  much  as  God  and  reason  would  allow."  The 
Parliament  of  Paris  utterly  refused  to  accept  the 
Concordat.  All  this  was  fish  to  the  papal  net,  and 
the  Pope  must  have  smiled  inwardly  and  outwardly 
at  his   great   success.      He  had   acted   with  perfect 


2  28    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

fairness ;  he  had  said  that  whatever  measures  of  re- 
form the  nations  would  agree  upon  he  would  care- 
fully consider,  knowing  well  that  their  differences 
would  prevent  their  agreeing  on  anything.  They 
had  not  agreed,  and  the  Pope  had  all  the  credit  of 
having  shown  great  courtesy  and  willingness  to 
oblige.  The  French  tried  hard  to  induce  him  to  go 
into  the  Jean  Petit  business,  and  the  Poles  to  engage 
him  in  a  like  controversy  they  were  having  in  Po- 
land over  a  John  of  Falkenberg;  but  he  wisely  de- 
clined to  meddle  with  either.  The  Poles,  always  trou- 
blesome and  quarrelsome  churchmen,  kept  badgering 
him  until  the  very  last  moment,  but  he  parried  their  at- 
tacks with  the  greatest  dexterity,  and  they  got  nothing. 
There  is  not  much  more  to  tell  about  this  famous 
council.  On  February  19,  141 8,  there  arrived  in 
Constance  an  embassy  from  the  Greek  emperor  with 
propositions  for  a  union  between  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches.  The  Turks  were  closing  in  upon 
the  Greek  empire,  already  shorn  of  its  fairest  prov- 
inces, and  the  unhappy  sovereign  felt  that  he  needed 
the  aid  of  Christian  Europe,  which  could  only  be 
procured  by  recognition  from  the  Pope  as  orthodox 
believers ;  for  in  those  days  you  might  as  well  be  a 
heathen  as  a  heretic.  This  was  not  the  first  of  simi- 
lar advances,  for  coquetting  between  the  churches 
had  been  going  on  for  some  time.  Great  courtesy 
-was  shown  these  Greek  ambassadors,  and  they  were 
allowed  to  have  the  Greek  mass  in  Constance  with 
their  own  creed ;  but  nothing  came  of  it.  The 
council  was  too  worn  out  and  feeble  to  take  up  so 
great  a  question  as  that. 


The  Brethren  of  the  Conmion  Life.    229 


The  Pope  put  forth  a  fierce  bull   ac^ainst  Wyclif 
and  Huss,  and  it  was  sent  ofT  to  Bohemia,  where  a 
religious  war  was  raging,  with  all   the  horrible  ad- 
juncts  that   usually   accompany   religious  wars,  and 
where  it  had  about  as  much  effect  as  whipping  with 
a  feather  would  have  had.      One   thing  the   monks 
tried  to  force  Martin  to  do,  which  with  great  good 
sense   he   refused,   and   that    was   to    condemn    the 
Brethren  of  the  Common  Life.     This  was  a  society 
which  had  been  formed  in  Holland  by  Gerard  Groot, 
of  Deventer,  a  man  of  great  spirituality  of  character, 
whose    preaching   and   whose    example    drew   great 
crowds  of  followers.     These  followers,  chiefly  young 
men,  gradually  formed  themselves  into  a  community 
whose  object  was  the  life  of  perfection  and  imitation 
of  Christ.     Every  member  had  to  work  to  help  the 
society,   and    no    begging    was    allowed.     As    they 
were  not  monks,  the  monks  took  offence  at  them, 
crying  out  that  no  perfection  was  attainable  outside 
the  monastic  profession,  that  having  property  and  liv- 
ing in  the  world  barred  all  great  spiritual  advancement. 
The  monks'  champion  was  Grabow,  a  Dominican, 
who   laid  down   the  proposition  that  "  no  one  can 
meritoriously  and  after  God's  manner  fulfil  the  duties 
of  obedience,   poverty,   and   chastity   but   true   and 
regular    monks    and    nuns."     This    proposition    the 
Pope  was  asked  to  indorse.      He  submitted  it  to  a 
body  of  theologians  in  the  council,  and  they  advised 
him  to  refuse  to  sanction  it,  since  laymen  were  as  able 
without  vows  to  strive  after  perfection  as  any  monks 
were.     This  was  quite  a  blow  to  the  notion,  which 
had  so  long  prevailed,  that  to  become  a  truly  devout 


230    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  acceptable  servant  of  God  you  must  become  a 
monk. 

And  now  the  council  had  finished  its  work,  and 
after  fixing  Pavia  as  the  seat  of  the  next  council,  to 
be  held  in  five  years,  on  April  22,  14 18,  the  last 
general  session  was  held,  the  Pope  pronounced  the 
decree  of  dissolution,  and  prepared  to  leave.  The 
French  tried  hard  to  get  him  to  take  up  his  residence 
at  Avignon,  and  Sigismund  tried  equally  hard  to  get 
him  to  stay  in  Germany,  for  he  thought  that  perhaps 
he  could  manipulate  him  if  he  had  him  under  his 
thumb ;  but  Martin  was  too  clever  a  man  to  be  manip- 
ulated by  anybody,  and,  returning  a  polite  reply  to 
each  invitation,  he  urged  that  his  own  Pontifical 
States  needed  his  presence  very  badly. 

On  the  1 6th  of  May  he  embarked  for  Schaffhausen 
on  his  way  to  Geneva,  and  his  going  was  a  splendid 
ceremony ;  just  as  at  his  enthronement,  on  either  side 
his  horse  walked  the  emperor  and  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  while  four  counts  of  the  empire  held  a 
canopy  over  him.  Behind  came  a  great  train  of  prel- 
ates and  nobles,  amounting,  according  to  Ulric  von 
Reichenthal,  who,  being  a  Constance  burgher,  swelled 
numbers  a  little,  to  forty  thousand  people.  The 
Pope  and  the  Curia  could  alone  of  all  that  crowd 
have  felt  light  of  heart,  for  every  earnest  looker-on 
knew  what  a  disappointment  the  whole  gathering 
had  been.  To  reform  had  been  its  great  reason  of 
being,  and  where  was  the  reform  ?  It  had  all  dis- 
appeared in  thin  air  under  the  dissensions  of  the 
members,  the  perseverance  of  the  cardinals,  and  the 
sagacity  of  the  Pope. 


The  Councils  of  Constance  and  the  Vatican.  23 1 


Before  leaving  the  Council  of  Constance  one  point 
deserves  to  be  noticed,  which  has  been  much  dwelt 
upon  in  our  day,  and  that  is  the  flat  contradiction  be- 
tween its  decrees  and  those  of  the  Council  of  the 
Vatican,  held  under  Pius  IX.,  as  far  as  concerns  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  as  superior  to  that  of  a  general 
council.  The  Council  of  Constance  declared  in  ex- 
plicit terms  that  it  had  from  Christ  immediate  power 
over  the  universal  church,  of  which  it  was  the  rep- 
resentative ;  that  all  were  bound  to  obey  it,  of  what- 
ever state  and  dignity,  even  if  papal,  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  the  faith,  the  extirpation  of  the  existing 
schism,  or  the  reformation  of  the  church  in  its  head 
or  members.  It  summoned  three  popes  before  it 
with  full  conviction  that  it  had  authority  to  do  so. 

The  Council  of  the  Vatican  decreed  exactly  the 
reverse.  It  decreed  that  the  Pope  had  from  Christ 
immediate  power  over  the  universal  church;  that  all 
were  bound  to  obey  him,  of  whatever  rite  and  dig- 
nity, collectively  as  well  as  individually ;  that  this 
duty  of  obedience  extended  to  all  matters  of  faith, 
of  morals,  and  of  the  discipline  and  government  of 
the  church  ;  that  in  all  ecclesiastical  cases  he  is  judge, 
without  appeal  or  the  possibility  of  removal;  that 
the  definitions  of  the  Pope  in  faith  and  morals,  de- 
livered ex  cathedra,  are  irreformable,  and  are  invested 
with  the  infallibility  granted  by  Christ  in  the  said 
subject-matter  to  the  church. 

Here,  then,  are  two  great  Roman  councils,  both 
confirmed  by  a  Pope  and  thus  both  with  the  stamp 
of  infallibility,  and  directly  in  conflict.  Which  are 
men  to  follow?     Roman  Catholics  know  that  this  is 


232    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

a  hard  nut  to  crack,  but  they  manfully  try  to  crack 
it.  Dr.  O'Reilly  says  that  Constance  was  a  special 
council  for  special  circumstances,  and  therefore  is  not 
of  the  same  authority  as  other  general  councils ;  but 
every  general  council  has  been  summoned  for  special 
circumstances,  and  the  argument  will  not  stand. 
Others  say  that  Martin  V.  only  confirmed  those 
decrees  of  Constance  which  related  to  faith,  and 
these  controverted  points  about  the  chief  authority 
were  not  matters  of  faith,  but  of  government.  The 
Roman  Church,  however,  certainly  makes  these 
points  matters  of  faith,  and  Martin  V.,  in  the  last 
session,  when  he  confirmed  the  acts  of  the  council, 
did  not  make  any  exceptions ;  he  did  not  say,  "  I 
only  confirm  the  decrees  about  the  faith;"  he  sanc- 
tioned everything  that  was  done  at  Constance  con- 
ciliariter,  that  is,  in  a  general  session,  as  opposed  to 
nationaliter,  that  is,  done  in  the  meetings  of  the  na- 
tions. These  decrees,  on  which  the  modern  contro- 
versy turns,  were  adopted  conciliariter,  and  have  just 
as  good  papal  authority  as  any  decrees  ever  passed ; 
and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  we  have  here  two  popes 
and  two  councils  in  direct  opposition  on  one  of  the 
most  important  points  in  the  constitution  of  the 
church. 

Martin  V.  certainly  admitted  the  power  of  the 
council  to  decree  matters  of  faith,  for  in  his  bull 
against  the  Hussites  he  says,  "  Every  heretic  shall  be 
required  to  say  whether  he  believes  that  what  the 
holy  Council  of  Constance,  representing  the  universal 
church,  has  sanctioned  and  sanctions,  '  in  favorem 
fidei  et  salutis  animarum,'  is  binding  on  all  Christian 


End  of  tJic  Coujicil  of  Constaiice.      233 

believers,  and  also  that  what  that  synod  has  con- 
demned as  contrary  to  tiie  faith  mu!it  be  held  by  all 
to  deserve  reprobation."  This  fact  remains  clear: 
Martin  V.  adopted  a  decree  which  declares  the 
judgments  of  the  Pope  to  be  reformable,  and  Pius 
IX.  adopted  a  decree  which  declares  certain  judg- 
ments of  the  Pope  in  matters  of  faith  and  morals  to 
be  infallible  and  irreformable.  As  Gladstone  says, 
"  One  oracle  contradicts  another,  and  no  oracle  which 
contradicts  itself  is  infallible." 

And  so  ends  the  Council  of  Constance.  It  had 
sat  for  three  years  and  six  months,  and  the  Count 
Palatine  Louis,  by  whom  the  whole  police  and  com- 
missariat department  was  supervised,  deserves  more 
credit  than  he  has  ever  received  for  so  managing 
things  that  during  that  whole  time  there  never  was  a 
tumult  in  the  streets,  a  rise  in  the  price  of  provisions, 
nor  any  epidemic  or  contagious  disease,  although 
sometimes  eighty  thousand  people  were  crowded  in 
the  little  burerh. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE    RETURN    OF    MARTIN    V.    TO    ROME,    AND    HIS 
TRIUMPH. 

REATLY  as  Martin  V.  longed  to  be  in 
his  own  dominions,  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  go  directly  there  on  leaving  Con- 
stance. The  Papal  States,  as  well  as  other 
parts  of  Italy,  were  overrun  at  that  time 
by  large  bodies  of  organized  brigands  (for  they  were 
nothing  better)  called  the  "  free  companies,"  or  the 
"free-lances."  They  were  regular  bodies  of  troops 
collected  together  by  some  soldier  of  fortune,  able, 
brave,  reckless,  and  anxious  to  win  for  himself  and 
his  family  a  place  among  the  powerful  ones  of  the 
earth.  They  sold  their  swords  to  the  highest  bidder, 
and  were  ever  on  the  lookout  for  some  town' to  plun- 
der, some  province  to  invade. 

When  John  XXIII.  went  to  Constance  he  left  the 
captain,  or  condottiere,  of  one  of  these  companies  in 
command  at  Bologna,  one  Braccio.  As  soon  as  the 
Pope  was  away,  Braccio,  with  the  utter  disregard  of 
obligations  that  characterized  his  kind,  sold  their 
liberty  to  the  Bolognese,  marched  against  Perugia, 
took  it  and  many  another  papal  town,  and  forced  his 

234 


MartiJi   V.  at  Floreticc. 


way  to  Rome  just  about  the  time  Martin  V.  was 
leaving  Constance.  Against  him  came  the  captain 
of  another  free  company,  in  the  pay  of  Naples — 
Sforza,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  that  desperate 
band.  He  drove  Braccio  out  of  Rome,  but  that  did 
not  make  it  safe  for  the  Pope  to  return  there,  although 
Sforza  was  on  his  side ;  for  Braccio  intrenched  him- 
self at  Perugia.  The  wise  Martin  concluded  that  he 
would  not  venture  into  that  hornets'  nest,  but  travel 
gradually  and  magnificently  southward  while  events 
were  developing  themselves.  He  lingered  awhile  at 
Geneva,  then  went  to  Turin,  then  to  Milan,  where  he 
was  received  with  great  pomp  ;  then,  towards  the  end 
of  October,  to  Mantua,  where  he  dwelt  for  some 
months,  reaching  Florence  on  February  26,  1419,  the 
Florentines  having  promised  him  their  assistance. 

He  had  several  distinguished  visitors  there.  First 
came  old  John  XXI H.,  who,  with  the  assistance  of 
friends,  had  raised  the  money  to  ransom  himself  from 
Louis  of  Bavaria.  It  was  a  curious  sight  to  the 
Florentines,  that  violent  and  haughty  prelate  on  his 
knees  before  Martin  imploring  his  protection.  Mar- 
tin raised  him  up  and  put  a  cardinal's  hat  on  his  head. 
Soon  he  died,  and  in  the  splendid  baptistery  of  Flor- 
ence the  passing  traveller  can  see  his  splendid  tomb. 
Then  came  the  condottiere  Sforza  to  get  instruc- 
tions from  the  Pope  about  the  war  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Papal  States.  Then  came  Braccio,  the  rival 
captain,  who  had  been  reconciled  to  the  Pope. 
Braccio  was  a  very  showy  person,  and  spent  so  much 
money  in  Florence,  and  gave  the  people  so  much 
entertainment,  that  they  could  not  help  contrasting 


236    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

his  conduct  with  the  parsimonious  and  quiet  Hfe  led 
by  the  Pope  ;  for  Martin,  not  having  much  money  to 
spend,  could  not  be  very  lavish  with  entertainments. 
The  street  boys  of  Florence  were  very  like  their  de- 
scendants of  the  present  day,  and  they  sang  under 
the  papal  windows  this  doggerel : 

"  Braccio  the  strong 
Conquers  all  along, 
But  old  Pope  Martin 
Isn't  worth  a  farden." 

Silly  as  these  words  were,  it  is  said  they  touched  to 
the  quick  the  proud  Colonna. 

Towards  the  end  of  September,  1420,  it  was  con- 
sidered safe  for  the  Pope  to  proceed  to  Rome,  and 
on  the  28th  of  that  month  he  made  his  solemn  entry. 
It  was  a  dreary  and  desolate  city  to  which  he  came. 
The  Rome  that  Augustus  had  found  brick  and  left 
marble  had  sunk  to  the  dimensions  of  a  third-  or 
fourth-rate  provincial  town.  The  houses  were  in 
ruins,  the  streets  in  frightful  condition,  and  the 
churches  in  many  cases  roofless  and  tumbling  to 
pieces.  Gibbon  gives  four  causes  for  such  a  state  of 
things,  each  of  which  has  some  weight:  i.  The  rav- 
ages of  time.  But  when  we  see  the  state  of  preser- 
vation of  the  pyramids,  and  the  grandeur  of  the 
temples  still  standing  at  Paestum,  we  are  not  inclined 
to  attribute  much  to  that.  We  often  are  told  that 
the  burning  of  Rome  by  Nero  worked  irreparable 
damage  to  it ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  a  great  ad- 
vantage, and  it  is  becoming  evident  now  that  the 
conflagration,  so  much  blamed,  was  really  a  drastic 


Causes  of  the  Ruin  of  Rome.         237 

but  most  effectual  measure  of  the  emperor  in  order 
to  clear  the  ground  for  hiying  out  broader  streets, 
he  liaving  in  vain  tried  to  buy  the  property  from  tlie 
various  owners.  2.  Hostile  attacks  of  barbarians. 
The  barbarians,  however,  remained  too  short  a  lime 
to  destroy  great  buildings.  Many  of  the  temples 
the  Christians  destroyed  from  hatred  of  idolatry,  but 
they  destroyed  no  porticoes,  theatres,  or  civic  build- 
ings. 3.  The  use  of  old  material  to  build  new  houses. 
This  was  a  great  source  of  destruction  ;  the  beautiful 
marbles  were  burned  for  lime  and  cement,  and  the  hewn 
stones  furnished  material  for  many  a  patrician  palace. 

The  greatest  cause  was,  however,  the  fourth:  the 
domestic  quarrels.  For  five  hundred  years  families  had 
been  in  a  constant  state  of  discord,  and  Colonna,Orsini, 
Savelli,  and  their  fellows  had  turned  the  old  classic 
remains,  like  the  theatres  of  Marcellus  and  Pompey, 
into  fortresses.  Even  the  churches,  not  excepting  St. 
Peter's,  were  garrisoned ;  the  engines  of  war  grinned 
from  their  battlements.  In  all  these  feuds  the  whole 
city,  ancient  and  mediaeval,  suffered  greatly.  The 
Romans  of  the  fourteenth  century  cared  little  about 
classic  remains,  and  Petrarch  was  surprised  that  he, 
a  stranger  from  the  Rhone,  knew  more  about  Roman 
antiquities  than  the  Romans  themselves.  When  the 
famous  group  called  "  The  Nile,"  which  now  graces 
the  Vatican,  was  discovered,  the  owners  covered  it 
up  again  as  of  no  importance ;  a  fortunate  stupidity, 
for  by  that  means  it  and  many  other  noble  statues 
were  preserved  for  more  enlightened  times.  The 
damage  to  the  antiquities  would  have  been  much 
greater  if  the  population  had  been  larger. 


238    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

It  is  to  the  credit  of  Martin  V.  that  he  set  himself 
immediately  to  work  to  bring  order  out  of  this  dis- 
order, to  restore  the  ruined  buildings  and  clear  the 
streets  of  obstructions.  Two  years  after  he  returned, 
his  labors  were  arrested  by  a  great  fiood  that  came 
up  to  the  high  altar  of  the  Pantheon ;  but  before  he 
died  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  almost  a  new 
city,  old  buildings  protected,  and  new  ones  of  great 
beauty  everywhere  going  up.  Much  more  than  the 
buildings  had  to  be  changed.  The  constant  state  of 
war,  the  public  distress,  the  want  and  penury,  had 
robbed  the  citizens  of  all  refinement  and  gentleness ; 
they  were  a  set  of  rough  boors.  Robbers  swarmed 
up  to  the  very  gates  of  the  city,  and  one  of  Martin's 
first  undertakings  was  the  clearing  out  of  the  nests 
of  brigands,  and  making  it  safe  for  pilgrims  again  to 
approach  the  Eternal  City. 

Time  soon  brought  around  a  troublesome  subject 
for  the  Pope,  and  one  which  he  much  disliked,  and 
that  was  the  assembling  of  the  Council  of  Pavia, 
which  had  been  arranged  at  Constance  to  convene 
in  five  years ;  and  the  great  University  of  Paris  took 
care  to  remind  the  Pope  that  the  hour  of  its  meeting 
had  struck.  He  did  not  want  any  council,  for  it  was 
only  too  evident  that  the  first  subject  it  would  take  up 
would  be  papal  reform  ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  go  back  on  his  plighted  word  that  it  should  be 
summoned. 

The  times  were  not  very  favorable  for  general 
councils.  England  and  France  had  been  so  long  at 
each  other's  throats  that  both  were  completely  ex- 
hausted, and  Sigismund  was  plunged  in  the  Hussite 


Failure  of  Council  of  Sicjia.  239 

wars.  Very  few  appeared  at  Pavia,  and,  the  plague 
soon  breaking  out  there,  the  Pope  transferred  the 
council  to  Siena ;  but  even  there  only  five  German 
prelates  appeared,  six  French,  and  not  one  Spanish. 
The  council,  small  as  it  was,  showed  such  very  dem- 
ocratic tendencies  in  the  way  of  arranging  the  votes, 
and  such  a  determination  to  reform  the  Curia,  that 
the  Pope  took  alarm,  and  after  the  council  had  passed 
the  stock  resolutions  condemning  Huss  and  Wyclif, 
those  who  still  held  to  old  Benedict  at  Peniscola,  and 
all  heretics  wherever  they  might  be,  and  had  ap- 
proved of  union  with  the  Greek  Church,  a  thing 
Martin  was  very  anxious  to  bring  about,  the  Pope 
took  advantage  of  the  very  small  attendance  to  de- 
clare the  council  a  failure,  and  ordered  his  legates  to 
publish  a  decree  of  dissolution,  which  every  one  was 
surprised  to  see  posted  on  the  door  of  the  cathe- 
dral, March  7,  1424.  The  legates  hurried  out  of 
town,  and  the  reformers,  though  very  angry,  felt 
that  they  would  only  make  themselves  ridiculous  by 
trying  to  carry  on  a  shadowy  council ;  so  after  pro- 
roguing it  for  seven  years,  to  meet  at  Basel,  all  went 
home. 

The  Pope  felt  now  that  for  seven  years  at  least  he 
could  breathe  free,  and  that  same  year  he  breathed 
even  freer;  for  both  the  condottieri  generals,  Sforza 
and  Braccio,  bade  farewell  to  life,  and  old  Benedict 
XIII.,  aged  ninety-four,  and  a  constant  bugbear  to 
Martin,  for  Spain  threatened  more  than  once  to  go 
back  to  his  obedience,  breathed  his  last.  The  two  or 
three  cardinals  he  had  left  behind  did  indeed  elect  a 
phantom  Pope ;  but  the  wise  Martin  soon  got  him  to 


240  The  Age  of  tJie  Great  Western  Schism. 

exchange  his  empty  honor  for  a  fat  bishopric,  and 
this  ghost  was  now  effectually  laid. 

Now  that  the  Italian  sky  had  cleared  up  a  little, 
the  Pope  turned  his  attention  to  church  affairs  in 
other  lands.  He  did  not  mean  to  abate  one  jot  of 
the  pretensions  of  his  predecessors,  and  he  resolved 
to  secure  everything  he  could  by  a  full  use  of  those 
weapons  which  many,  former  popes  had  found  so 
effectual,  but  which  did  not  now  cut  as  sharply  as 
they  once  did.  In  France  he  met  with  good  success. 
Charles  VI.  was  dead,  and  his  firm  resistance  to  papal 
exactions  was  not  to  be  carried  out  by  his  weak  and 
hardly  pressed  successor,  Charles  VII.,  the  unworthy 
hero  of  Joan  d'Arc.  He  yielded  speedily  to  Martin's 
demands,  and  gave  orders  that  the  Pope's  nomination 
to  benefices  and  collection  of  annates,  etc.,  should  be 
enforced  by  the  state  officials.  The  Parliament  re- 
belled, but  the  deed  was  done. 

In  England  Martin  did  not  carry  things  with  so 
high  a  hand.  Premunire  and  provisors  were  two 
statutes  right  across  the  papal  path ;  no  wonder  that 
popes  hated  them  with  deadly  hatred  and  lavished 
on  them  every  imaginable  papal  curse.  Henry  V. 
paid  no  attention  to  the  passionate  entreaties  of  the 
Pope  that  they  might  be  abolished.  The  Pope  tried, 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  to  stir  up  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  Chichele,  reminding  him  that  Becket, 
when  he  occupied  the  see,  had  not  hesitated  a  moment 
to  sacrifice  his  life  to  save  the  church's  rights;  but 
Chichele  was  a  weak  spirit,  and  not  at  all  of  the  Becket 
type,  though  he  did  strongly  hint  that  all  the  Pope 
wanted  was  money. 


Chichele  and  Card  ma  I  Bca^ifort.      241 

Chichele  felt  that  his  dignity  had  been  touched  by 
the  appointment  of  Henry  Beaufort,  uncle  of  Henry 
v.,  legate  a  latere,  and  the  people  of  England  sym- 
pathized with  him,  and  they  refused  to  recognize 
Beaufort  in  that  capacity.  The  king  was  opposed 
even  to  his  being  made  a  cardinal.  He  was  most 
unpopular,  and  Shakespeare,  in  the  death  scene  in 
the  third  part  of  "  I  lenry  VI.,"  expresses  the  common 
opinion  of  him  by  his  contemporaries.  The  unfortu- 
nate Chichele's  was  the  head  on  which  all  the  vials  of 
papal  wrath  were  poured  out.  The  Pope  wrote  him 
to  calmly  ignore  premunire  and  provisors,  as  if  Eng- 
lishmen would  be  likely  to  stand  any  such  attempt 
against  their  liberties.  He  went  before  the  Parlia- 
ment and  pleaded  with  it  to  give  up  these  obnoxious 
laws,  or  else  he  feared  an  interdict ;  but  this  did  not 
frighten  the  Parliament  in  the  least,  and  all  that  they 
would  do  for  the  primate  was  to  agree  to  write  and 
ask  the  Pope  to  treat  him  more  kindly.  Martin  had 
to  give  up  the  contest,  and  the  statutes  remained  to 
be  Henry  VHI.'s  most  powerful  weapons  in  break- 
ing off  all  supremacy  of  the  Pope  in  England. 

Martin  V.  was  now  drawing  near  the  end  of  his 
career.  He  just  missed  being  ranked  among  the 
great  popes,  and  he  deserves  more  credit  than  has 
been  generally  accorded  to  him  by  historians.  He 
did  not,  indeed,  possess  any  noble,  lofty  traits  of  char- 
acter, had  very  little  spirituality  and  very  little  gen- 
erosity, though  his  life  was  free  from  any  stains  of 
evil  living;  but  he  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree 
that  immensely  valuable  trait  called  "  common  sense." 
He  had  great  wisdom  and  great  self-control.     When 


242    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism, 

one  thinks  of  the  mire  and  fihh  out  of  which  he  raised 
the  Papacy,  which  had  become  a  scorn  and  byword 
to  all  Christendom,  and  which  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance had  endeavored  to  make  its  creature,  we  can- 
not help  admiring  him. 

He  bullied  and  tyrannized  over  bishops  and  cardi- 
nals, and  is  as  much  responsible  as  any  one  for  the 
present  crouching  attitude  of  the  Roman  episcopate  ; 
but  he  was  very  careful  about  his  appointments,  and, 
much  as  he  loved  money,  never  received  it  in  ex- 
change for  rich  preferments,  to  be  enjoyed  by  some 
shameless  and  utterly  incompetent  ecclesiastic.  He 
answered  perfectly  to  the  American  definition  of 
"  smart,"  and  never  lost  an  opportunity,  when  a 
country  had  a  young  king  or  a  weak  government,  or 
was  disturbed  by  internal  or  foreign  troubles,  of  in- 
serting a  fresh  wedge  of  papal  encroachment,  and 
riveting  more  closely  the  fetters  of  papal  exaction. 
Like  most  popes,  and  as  was  to  have  been  expected 
of  a  Colonna  with  many  needy  relatives  and  a  great 
family  name  to  keep  up,  he  was  guilty  of  the  most 
barefaced  nepotism,  and  heaped  on  his  family  vast 
treasures  and  splendid  preferments.  If  he  had  lived 
the  Council  of  Basel  would  not  have  been  the  dis- 
cordant and  little-credited  body  it  proved  to  be  ;  but 
he  died  immediately  after  convoking  it  and  appoint- 
ing Cardinal  Cesarini  to  preside  over  it.  Apoplexy 
carried  him  off  February  20,  143 1,  and  his  tomb  of 
brass  can  be  seen  now  in  the  baptistery  of  St.  John 
Lateran. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE    HUSSITE    WAR. 


EFORE  entering  on  the  pontificate  of 
Martin's  successor,  it  is  necessary  to  re- 
view the  terrible  state  of  affairs  in  Bohe- 
mia, which  had  gone  on  deepening  in 
iiorror  ever  since  the  close  of  the  Council 
of  Constance.  The  executions  of  Huss  and  Jerome 
of  Prague  lit  a  fire  in  that  land  which  was  not  ex- 
tinguished for  many  a  year,  and  not  without  the 
pouring  out  of  oceans  of  blood,  the  ruin  of  many  a 
fair  town  and  many  a  stately  cathedral. 

After  the  burning  of  Huss,  in  September,  141 5, 
there  was  held  a  great  meeting  in  Bohemia,  where 
four  hundred  and  fifty-two  nobles  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Council  of  Constance,  signed  by  those  who 
could  write,  and  sealed  by  those  who  could  not,  ex- 
pressing their  full  trust  in  Huss,  and  their  conviction 
of  the  iniquity  of  his  condemnation,  and  also  affirm- 
ing themselves  to  be  good  Catholics.  A  few  days 
after  they  entered  into  a  solemn  compact  to  maintain 
for  six  years  the  doctrine  which  they  thought,  and 
which  really  was,  so  important,  namely,  the  allowing 
the  laity  to  receive  the  chalice.    Their  devotion  to  this 

243 


244    ^-^^  ^^^  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

doctrine  gave  them  the  name  of  Cahxtines,  from 
calix  ("a  chalice"  ),  and  more  commonly  Utraquists, 
from  the  Latin  words,  sub  utraqiie  specie  ("  the  sacra- 
ment under  both  kinds  ").  A  chalice  also  formed  the 
device  upon  their  banners.  They  did  not  at  that 
time,  nor  did  many  of  them  ever,  differ  in  any  other 
point  from  the  received  Roman  doctrine. 

In  March,  141 7,  the  University  of  Prague  com- 
municated to  the  Council  of  Constance  their  decision 
that  the  laity  should  be  allowed  the  chalice ;  but  the 
council  paid  no  attention  to  it,  and  in  141 8  Pope 
Martin  launched  the  bull  heretofore  noticed  against 
Hussites  and  Wyclifites,  and  he  then  chose  precisely 
the  worst  man  he  could  have  chosen,  the  Cardinal 
of  Ragusa,  to  be  his  legate  in  Bohemia.  This  legate 
began  his  stupid  career  by  burning  a  priest  and  a 
layman  for  their  Calixtine  views,  and  such  foolish  and 
cruel  acts  roused  the  Bohemians  to  fury. 

The  King  of  Bohemia,  Wenceslas,  a  drunkard  and 
a  laggard,  but  very  popular,  now  became  alarmed,  and 
threw  in  his  lot  with  the  papal  party,  taking  away  from 
the  Utraquists  all  the  churches  in  Prague  but  two. 
This  only  infuriated  them  more,  and,  under  Nicolas 
of  Hussinetz,  and  John,  commonly  called  Ziska,  either 
from  his  having  one  eye  {ziska  meaning  "  one-eyed  " 
in  Bohemian),  or  from  its  being  his  family  name,  large 
bands  of  Utraquists  roamed  over  the  land,  enforcing 
everywhere  the  use  of  the  sacrament  in  both  kinds. 
The  partisans  of  that  opinion  held  on  July  22,  1419, 
a  vast  open-air  meeting  on  a  hill,  and,  from  the  tents 
in  which  the  multitude  lived  and  which  are  called  in 
Bohemian  tabor,  got  the  name  of  Taborites.     This, 


Horrors  of  the  Hussite    J  Tar.  245 

however,  was  not  the  origin  of  the  name  of  the  Cah'x- 
tinc  town  afterwards  founded,  for  the. names  of  the 
mountains  in  Scripture — Tabor,  Ilort-b,  Sinai,  etc. — 
were  favorite  appelhitives  with  the  Taborites.  Forty 
thousand  people  were  present  at  this  meeting,  and 
all  received  the  communion  in  both  kinds,  no  previous 
confession,  as  is  the  rule  in  the  Church  of  Rome, 
being  enforced.  The  priests  celebrated  in  their  civil 
costumes,  and  the  strict  rule  of  the  Roman  Church 
about  having  the  communion  vessels  of  metal  was 
broken,  wooden  chalices  being  used,  and  plain  wooden 
altars  without  a  cover.  The  Roman  doctrine  of  the 
sacrament  was,  however,  carefully  maintained. 

This  meeting  created  great  enthusiasm  among  the 
Utraquists,  and,  headed  by  Ziska,  they  marched  to 
Prague,  and  commenced  that  series  of  riots  and  kill- 
ings which  were  to  mark  this  war,  even  among  the 
usual  horrors  of  religious  wars,  as  bloodier  and  crueller 
than  any  other.  Mow  could  it  be  otherwise  when  we 
consider  the  convictions  of  the  two  parties?  Tiie 
[)apal  party  held  that  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  and  no 
quarter  shown  to  heretics ;  heresy  being  the  most 
awful  of  crimes,  nothing  was  to  be  neglected,  no 
matter  how  violent,  that  could  put  it  down.  The 
Taborites  held  that  the  righteous  must  be  the  avengers 
of  God,  and  root  out  all  His  enemies,  and  that  all  in 
mortal  sin  must  be  put  to  the  sword  ;  and  they  made 
the  sweeping  statement  that  all  priests  and  nuns  were 
ex  officio  in  mortal  sin,  and  therefore  must  be  exter- 
minated. It  is  not  meant  to  say  that  all  Hussites 
thought  this ;  but  the  extreme  and  fanatical  party, 
which  obtained  the  ascendency,  held  these  views,  and 


246    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

many  others  more  fanatical,  and  bitter  was  the  out- 
come. We  see  yet  the  effect,  for  of  the  magnificent 
churches  with  which  Bohemia  was  filled,  no  other 
European  country,  Eneas  Sylvius  says,  being  able  in 
this  respect  to  compete  with  it,  all  were  destroyed 
except  the  chapel  of  the  Hradschin,  and  we  have  now 
only  the  rococo  and  tasteless  creations  of  the  Jesuits. 

The  riots  at  Prague  threw  the  old  King  Wenceslas 
into  an  apoplexy,  and  in  August,  141 9,  he  died,  and 
the  crown  fell  to  his  brother,  the  German  emperor, 
Sigismund,  who  played  so  important  a  part  at  Con- 
stance. It  was  unfortunate,  just  at  this  juncture,  for 
Sigismund's  conduct  towards  Huss  had  set  the  whole 
Bohemian  nation  against  him,  and  the  extremists 
were  determined  not  to  recognize  him  as  their  sover- 
eign. His  first  acts  of  sovereignty  were  not  at  all 
calculated  to  allay  the  feeling  against  him,  for  he 
beheaded  twenty-three  Utraquists  at  Breslau,  and 
authorized  a  crusade  against  the  Hussites.  This 
infuriated  even  the  moderate  party,  and  both  Utra- 
cjuists  and  Taborites  (as  the  extremists  were  now 
called)  joined  to  resist  the  emperor  by  an  appeal  to 
arms.  Prague  declared  for  them,  and  Ziska,  with 
comparatively  few  fanatical  but  patriotic  partisans, 
besieged  the  citadel,  which  still  held  for  the  emperor. 
Sigismund  attempted  to  relieve  it,  but  the  savage 
peasants,  burning  with  religious  zeal,  beat  to  death 
with  their  flails  four  hundred  of  the  attacking  nobles, 
and  the  emperor  fled  in  disgrace. 

The  people  of  Prague  now  sent  Sigismund  their 
ultimatum,  which  is  called  "  the  four  articles,"  and 
which  seems  reasonable  and  fair  enough ;  so  fair  that 


Disagreements  of  the  Hussites.        247 


the  Archbishop  of  Prague  was  willing  to  accept  it. 
These  articles  were:  i.  Freedom  for  the  Hussite 
preachers,  and  the  Scriptures  free  to  all.  2.  Com- 
munion in  both  kinds.  3.  The  clergy  not  to  hold 
estates  or  to  meddle  with  secular  afTairs.  4.  Chris- 
tianity to  be  the  rule  and  the  appeal  in  social  and 
civil  life.  The  papalists  would,  however,  hear  to 
none  of  these  things,  and  nothing  came  of  it. 

More  unfortunate  than  all  was  the  fact  that  the 
Hussites  did  not  agree  among  themselves.  There 
was  the  conservative  party,  who  wished  to  remain 
Catholics  if  they  could  have  the  cup,  which  all  on 
every  side  acknowledged  was  a  regulation  within  the 
power  of  the  church  to  alter,  and  not  at  all  a  matter 
of  faith ;  then  there  was  the  Ziska  party,  who  wanted 
to  throw  off  the  German  rule  and  do  away  with  the 
Roman  priests  and  nuns;  then  came  the  extreme 
Taborites,  who  held  that  every  person  was  directly 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  who  rejected  tran- 
substantiation ;  then  there  was  a  large  party  of  Mil- 
lenarians,  and  even  a  sect  of  Adamites,  who  went 
about  stark  naked  and  practised  the  most  shameless 
lust.  All  these  parties  killed,  burned,  murdered  one 
another  without  the  slightest  compunction,  and  all 
joined  to  hate  Sigismund,  and  they  opposed  him  to 
some  purpose. 

His  first  crusade,  in  1421,  consisted  of  an  army  of 
two  hundred  thousand  men,  which  fled  before  even 
the  rumor  of  John  Ziska's  approach.  Ziska  was  a 
most  able  general,  and  one  novel  mode  of  warfare  in- 
stituted by  him  conveyed  terror  by  its  strangeness  to 
every  foe.     He  had  the  wagons  of  the  country,  drawn 


248    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

by  swift  horses,  arranged  according  to  a  certain  num- 
bering and  lettering,  and  the  drivers  so  drilled  that 
each  man  knew  his  place ;  and  when  a  battle  began, 
these  wagons  would  come  thundering  down,  draw  up 
in  squares,  and  make  throughout  the  field  a  hundred 
fortified  camps  to  which  the  hard-pressed  Hussites 
could  retreat  behind  an  impregnable  rampart. 

A  second  attempt  of  Sigismund,  in  December, 
1 42 1,  was  just  as  adverse  to  his  fortunes  as  the  first, 
and  he  lost  twelve  thousand  men  before  Kuttenberg, 
January  6,  1422.  It  is  not  germane  to  this  book  to 
follow  the  Bohemians  in  their  different  schemes  for 
independent  government,  since  all  were  rendered  abor- 
tive by  their  intestine  quarrels.  Fiercer  and  more 
fierce  grew  the  strife  between  the  moderates  and  the 
extremists,  and  in  1424  the  fury  of  Ziska  was  un- 
bounded ;  he  harried  and  burned  and  killed  his  fellow- 
countrymen  without  stint.  The  plague  carried  him 
off  that  autumn,  and  his  bereaved  followers  called 
themselves  "the  Orphans."  A  new  leader  arose, 
called  Procopius  the  Great  to  distinguish  him,  Pro- 
copius  being  a  very  common  name  in  Bohemia.  He 
was  a  priest  and  a  noble,  and  was  not  such  a  narrow 
type  of  man  as  Ziska.  He  invaded  Saxony  and  laid 
siege  to  Aussitz,  and  on  June  16,  1426,  a  battle  was 
fought  under  the  walls  of  that  town,  seventy  thou- 
sand Germans  against  twenty-five  thousand Taborites, 
and  yet  the  latter  once  more  prevailed,  and  ten  thou- 
sand Germans  were  left  dead  on  the  field. 

Once  more  Procopius,  now  the  idol  of  Bohemia, 
invaded  Austria  and  Silesia ;  and  this  time  Germany, 
thoroughly  alarmed,   summoned  men-at-arms  from 


Victories  of  Procopius.  249 

every  German  principality  to  meet  the  foe,  and  two 
hundred  thousand  men  were  gatliered  together, 
Henry  Ik'aufort,  Cardinal  of  Winchester,  among  them 
as  leader  and  papal  legate.  lie,  though  a  priest,  was 
a  valiant  man-at-arms,  and  when  that  whole  splendid 
array  fled  in  dire  confusion  before  the  wild  shouts  of 
the  oncoming  Procopius,  he  alone  tried  to  rally  the 
terrified  soldiery.  This  was  in  1427,  and  in  1429 
Sigismund  endeax-ored  by  a  conference  to  bring  about 
peace,  and  the  Bohemians  gave  as  their  ultimatum 
the  holding  of  a  general  council,  which  should  include 
deputies  from  the  Greek  and  Armenian  churches  (they 
both  teaching  communion  in  both  kinds),  and  that  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  not  the  Pope,  should  be  the  final 
appeal. 

Of  course  this  came  to  naught,  and  Martin  V. 
urged  Sigismund  to  undertake  another  crusade.  It 
was  time,  for  even  Coburg  and  Baireuth  had  been 
burned  by  the  victorious  Procopius.  One  hundred 
thousand  men  were  gathered,  and  Henry  of  Winches- 
ter brought  five  thousand  English  horsemen ;  but  he 
could  not  tarry  long,  for  the  victorious  career  of  Joan 
of  Arc  in  France  forced  him  to  hurry  his  forces  back 
to  the  help  of  his  flying  countrymen.  All  Europe 
was  now  intensely  interested  in  the  Hussite  question, 
and  priests  bewailed  everywhere  the  fact  that  their 
parishioners  were  discussing  the  religious  questions 
involved,  and  showing  their  sympathy  with  the 
Bohemians.  Even  as  far  as  Spain  this  trend  of  popu- 
lar feeling  was  noticed. 

Martin  V.  was  now  urged  on  every  hand  to  sum- 
mon the  Council  of  Basel  to  consider  these  pressing 


250    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

questions,  and,  much  as  he  hated  the  very  name  of 
council,  he  felt  he  could  not  much  longer  delay.  On 
February  i,  1431,  the  bull  was  issued  for  its  conven- 
ing, and  Cardinal  Cesarini,  charming,  popular,  able, 
and  conscientious,  was  appointed  to  preside  over  it, 
with  full  power  to  change  the  place  of  meeting  if 
necessary,  and  to  confirm  its  decisions,  just  as  if  the 
Pope  were  present.  Cesarini  had  before  this  been 
sent  as  legate  to  Germany,  and  the  news  of  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  presidency  of  the  council  reached 
him  at  Nuremberg.  He  was  at  that  time  plunged  in 
the  preparations  for  a  new  Bohemian  crusade,  and  he 
could  give  but  little  attention  to  anything  else.  This 
was  the  state  of  Bohemian  affairs  on  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1 43 1 ,  when  Martin  V.  closed  his  earthly  account, 
and  was  laid  to  rest  in  Rome  amid  great  and  very  sin- 
cere mourning  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  citizens, 
which  tribute  he  had  well  deserved. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

EUGENIUS   IV.    AND   THE   COUNCIL   OF   BASEL. 

III'^RE  were  fourteen  cardinals  present  in 
Rome  when  the  hour  came  to  enter  into 
conclave  for  the  election  of  a  new  Pope,  and 
the  conclave  did  not  meet  in  the  usual  place, 
the  Vatican,  but  in  the  well-known  church 
of  St.  Maria  sopra  Minerva.  One  strong  determina- 
tion possessed  them  all,  and  that  was,  no  longer  to 
permit  themselves  to  be  trampled  upon  as  they  had 
been  by  the  late  Pope.  Martin  had  been  severe  with 
his  cardinals,  and  his  manner  was  so  stern  that  they 
trembled  when  he  spoke  to  them ;  often,  when  at  his 
country  palaces,  he  would  not  suffer  one  to  come 
near  him.  He  was  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to 
follow  the  example  of  Urban  VI.,  and  say  "  Shut 
your  mouth  "  to  them  ;  but  he  had  been  a  hard  mas- 
ter, and  the  Sacred  College  was  resolved  to  give 
itself  an  easier  one.  As  a  prelude  to  this,  they  drew 
up  a  paper,  which  every  one  took  oath  he  would  em- 
body in  a  bull  if  he  were  elected  Pope.  This  com- 
pact bound  the  new  Pope  to  engage  seriously  in  the 
reform  of  the  papal  court  and  the  Curia  and  of  the 
whole  church,  especially  the  monastic  part  of  it;  not 

251 


252    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

to  remov^e  the  papal  throne  from  Rome,  except  with 
the  consent  of  the  cardinals ;  to  do  all  he  could  to 
help  on  the  approaching  council  at  Basel ;  to  make  no 
cardinals  except  according  to  the  rules  laid  down  at 
Constance,  unless  the  college  requested  him  to  do  so; 
and  to  be  ready  always  to  take  the  advace  of  the 
cardinals  and  uphold  their  privileges.  They  also 
were  vain  enough  to  make  a  point  that  whenever  the 
Pope  wrote  letters  to  princes,  announcing  decisions 
in  church  matters,  the  names  of  the  cardinals  who 
had  advised  the  course  should  be  mentioned. 

The  college,  small  as  it  was,  had  a  majority  of 
Italians, — twelve  Italians  to  eight  of  all  other  nations, 
— and  an  Italian  was  likely  to  be  chosen.  They  went 
into  conclave  March  ist,  and  on  March  3d  took  the 
first  vote,  which  elected  Gabriel  Condolmieri,  a  Vene- 
tian and  Cardinal  of  St.  Clemente,  who  took  the 
name  of  Eugenius  IV.  The  reason  for  choosing  him 
was  very  evident :  he  was  the  least  important  and  the 
most  insignificant  of  their  number;  he  had  no  learn- 
ing and  no  strength  of  character,  and  could,  they 
thought,  be  easily  manipulated. 

They  repented  at  their  leisure.  Eugenius  seemed 
so  unfit  for  his  office  that  the  Holy  Ghost,  as 
usual,  was  supposed  to  have  overruled  the  whole 
matter,  and  the  Pope  had  a  stock  anecdote  which  he 
told  so  often  that  people  ran  away  when  he  began 
again  to  tell  it.  He  said  he  was  acting  as  porter 
when  he  was  a  monk  at  Venice,  and  a  hermit  ap- 
peared, whom  he  accompanied  to  the  monastery 
chapel,  and  with  whom  he  prayed.  When  the  her- 
mit was  leaving,  he  turned  to  Eugenius  and  said, 


Character  of  E ugcn ins.  253 


"  You  will  be  made  cardinal,  and  then  Pope,  and  you 
will  suffer  great  adversity." 

The  Pope  was  a  handsome  man,  forty-eight  years 
old,  and  graced  well  the  papal  ceremonies ;  and  he  was 
a  man  of  unblemished  character,  and  passed  much  of 
his  time  at  his  devotions.  He  was  a  thorough  type 
of  the  true  monk,  austere,  narrow,  and  with  the  ex- 
tremest  notions  of  the  power  of  a  Pope  and  the  duty 
of  a  Pope.  His  one  absorbing  thought  was  to  put 
down  heresy  and  root  out  heretics,  no  matter  how ; 
if  mild  measures  could  not  do  it,  kill,  burn,  behead. 
He  had  not  one  tenth  part  of  the  wisdom  of  Martin, 
as  the  Romans  soon  found  out,  and  his  very  first  acts 
showed  his  hardness  towards  his  enemies,  or  rather 
the  enemies  of  the  church;  for  Eugenius  had  no 
personal  ambition  and  no  personal  ends  to  serve. 

Martin  V.,  as  was  natural,  had  shown  every  favor 
possible  to  the  Colonna  family,  and  he  left  behind  him 
vast  sums  of  money  in  the  hands  of  his  nephews. 
This  money  had  ostensibly  been  collected  for  a  cru- 
sade against  the  Turks,  and  Eugenius  was  right  in 
thinking  that  it  ought  to  be  paid  over  to  him.     Part 
was  paid,  but  he  knew  there  was  much  more  kept  back, 
and  he  pressed  for  it.     The  Colonnas  hated  to  dis- 
gorge,  and  Stephen,  the  head  of  the  house,  attacked 
Rome,  believing  the  people  would  rise  to  his  support. 
He  was  mistaken  ;  they  rose  on  the  Pope's  side,  and 
he  laid  hands  on  all  the  Colonnas  in  Rome.     Dire 
was  his  vengeance :   he  took  off  the  heads  of  two 
hundred  of  their  partisans,  tore  down  their  palaces, 
Martin's  included,  and  chiselled  out  the  late  Pope's 
arms    wherever   they    occurred.      He   also   issued   a 


2  54    ^■^^^  ^^^  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

decree  taking  away  every  rood  of  ground  and  every 
cent  of  income  from  every  Colonna.  This  brought 
that  haughty  family  to  their  senses,  and  a  peace  was 
made,  by  which  Antonio  Colonna  paid  seventy-five 
thousand  ducats  to  the  Pope,  and  gave  up  all  his 
castles  in  the  Romagna.  Eugenius  had  then  leisure  to 
turn  his  attention  to  the  States  of  the  Church,  which 
were  in  a  flame  of  revolt,  for  the  chief  cities,  as  soon 
as  Martin's  strong  hand  was  removed,  had  refused 
to  pay  taxes  or  acknowledge  the  Pope's  officers.  The 
free  companies  who  were  hired  by  the  Pope  soon 
brought  them  to  terms,  and,  this  being  all  arranged, 
Eugenius  now  occupied  himself  with  arranging  the 
Council  of  Basel. 

Wealthy  and  important  as  Basel  now  is  among  the 
Swiss  cities,  it  is  not  as  populous  as  it  was  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  before  the  Black  Death  raged  in 
it  with  peculiar  ferocity.  The  classic  Romans  had 
important  fortifications  there,  and  it  was,  as  all  cities 
were  in  the  middle  ages,  surrounded  by  walls  which 
have  now  been  turned  into  shady  boulevards.  The 
Rhine  divides  it  into  two  parts ;  it  is  well  built,  but 
beyond  the  cathedral  there  is  no  building  of  any 
great  beauty  or  of  much  historical  importance.  The 
cathedral  was  founded  in  the  beginning  of  the  elev- 
enth century  by  Henry  II.  of  Germany.  Calvinistic 
sternness  has  deprived  it  of  all  internal  beauty,  and 
it  doubtless  presented  a  very  different  appearance 
when  the  council  gathered  for  its  opening  ceremonies. 
The  hall  in  which  the  council  met  is  still  shown  in 
Basel.  It  was  a  free,  imperial  city,  and  it  ruled  over 
much  of  the  adjacent  country  with  an  iron  hand,    It 


Opoiijig  of  the  CoiDicil  of  Basel.      255 

did  not  formally  join  the  Swiss  confederacy  until 
1501. 

As  has  been  said,  the  appointed  president,  Cardi- 
nal Cesarini,  was  too  busy  with  the  Hussite  difficulties 
to  be  present  at  the  opening ;  but  he  sent  two  deputies, 
John  of  Paloman  and  John  of  Ragusa,  who  came  and 
went  through  the  regular  ceremonial  of  opening  on 
the  23d  of  July,  1431.  It  was  a  sorry  contrast  to  the 
crowded  splendor  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  for 
only  three  bishops,  seven  abbots,  and  a  few  doctors 
were  present.  The  roads  were  unsafe,  the  times  very 
unsettled,  and  the  bishops  very  doubtful  about  leav- 
ing their  dioceses.  There  were  too  few  to  attempt 
anything,  and  things  dragged  along  until  Cesarini 
arrived,  September  9th.  His  first  step  was  to  drum 
up  recruits,  and  letters  were  sent  in  all  directions 
begging  the  attendance  of  bishops  and  doctors. 

Discussions  then  commenced  as  to  what  work  they 
would  undertake,  and  the  opinion  was  that  they  could 
put  down  heresy,  reform  the  church,  unite  the  Greeks, 
and  institute  a  crusade  against  the  Turks — a  large 
contract  for  so  few  men.  It  was  considered  unwise 
as  yet  to  arrange  the  way  of  voting,  although,  as 
events  proved,  they  gained  no  wisdom  by  waiting,  for 
it  was  to  the  injudicious  arrangement  of  votes  that 
the  council  owes  the  small  credit  it  has  ever  received. 
Cesarini's  letters  to  the  Bohemians  and  to  the  Pope 
are  models  of  prudence,  keen  foresight.  Christian 
charity,  and  noble  aspiration.  The  Bohemians  were 
begged  to  send  to  the  council  representatives  of  all 
parties,  taking  care  that  they  were  men  of  learning, 
of  piety,  and  of  wisdom.    They  were  promised  a  free 


256    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

hearing  and  perfect  personal  safety,  and  the  letter 
roused  no  sleeping  dogs. 

But  this  mild  letter  to  those  whom  the  Pope  chose 
to  call  heretics  aroused  the  suspicions  of  Eugenius, 
who,  moreover,  did  not  at  all  like  the  democratic 
spirit  shown  at  Basel.  It  was  very  evident  from  the 
beginning  that  the  voting  would  not  be  done  by  car- 
dinals alone,  and  that  was  enough  to  set  the  Pope 
against  the  council,  which  he  plainly  hated  from  the 
beginning.  He  wrote  to  Cesarini,  empowering  him 
to  dissolve  the  council  and  call  another  at  Bologna  in 
a  year  and  a  half.  The  reasons  given  were  plausible 
enough :  that  so  few  had  come ;  that  war  between 
Austria  and  Burgundy  would  hinder  travel;  that  the 
Greek  emperor  had  promised  to  come  to  a  council 
held  in  an  Italian  city,  but  would  not  cross  the  Alps. 
He  sent  on  a  bull  of  dissolution  to  Basel  by  his 
treasurer,  but  the  latter  found  that  such  a  hornets'  nest 
was  raised  by  the  mere  knowledge  that  he  had  such  a 
document  that  he  thought  it  wise  to  vanish  and  leave 
his  bulls  behind,  to  get  published  as  best  they  might. 

It  was  then  Cesarini  wrote  his  famous  letter  to  the 
Pope,  which  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  docu- 
ments among  the  abundant  literature  of  the  Council 
of  Basel.  Milman  gives  an  excellent  resume  of  it, 
taken  from  Eneas  Sylvius,  and  the  following  is  taken 
from  Milman.  "  This  council,"  Cesarini  says,  "  is  the 
only  hope  of  union  and  success,  and  I  receive  an  order 
to  dissolve  it.  Your  reasons  do  not  hold  water.  Bishops 
are  gathering  from  all  quarters,  the  emperor  has 
taken  the  council  under  his  protection,  and  Austria 
and  Burgundy  have  proclaimed  a  truce.     We  have 


Letter  of  Cesarini.  257 

tried  arms  in  vain  ;  if  you  really  wish  to  reconcile  the 
Bohemians,  this  council  is  the  only  way.  If  this  be 
dissolved,  all  heretics  will  laiit^h  in  our  faces  and  say 
that  the  Catholic  Church  is  afraid  of  them.  Is  your 
Holiness  aware  of  the  deep,  unquenchable  feeling  in 
tiie  minds  of  all  about  reform?  Its  long  delay  is 
working  like  a  ferment  in  men's  minds.  Magdeburg 
has  expelled  her  archbishop  and  clergy,  Passau  has 
expelled  hers,  and  Bamberg  is  likely  to  follow  suit. 
Indeed,  all  over  Germany,  in  Aix,  Cologne,  Spires, 
Strasburg,  and  elsewhere,  the  burghers  are  struggling 
to  throw  oft"  tlie  ecclesiastical  rule.  Something  must 
be  done,  and  we  will  lose  our  temporalities,  as  well 
as  our  souls,  if  this  council  be  dissolved.  The  Ger- 
mans especially  will  not  stand  it,  and  there  will  be 
another  great  schism  in  the  church  if  this  council  is 
closed.  Wait  until  July  at  least;  wait  until  we  have 
done  something." 

The  letter  was  all  very  well,  but  the  council,  which 
had  now  greatly  increased,  seemed  to  care  very  little 
what  the  Pope  did,  and,  without  waiting  for  any 
answer  to  the  cardinal's  letter,  held  its  first  session 
December  14th,  when  the  Bishop  of  Constance  said 
mass.  This  session  directed  that  the  three  subjects 
for  discussion  should  be  the  extinction  of  heresy,  the 
restoration  of  the  unity  of  the  church,  and  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  clergy.  The  system  of  voting  was 
also  arranged,  and  this  was  the  fountain  and  the  origin 
of  all  the  errors  of  the  council.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  at  Constance  the  voting  was  by  "  nations." 
It  was  resolved  not  to  continue  this  for  two  reasons: 
one  was  the  jealousy  it  had  created,  and  the  other 


258    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

was  that  by  that  system  the  cardinals  all  voted  to- 
gether as  a  separate  nation  and  always  supported 
the  Pope.  It  was  resolved  now  to  create  four  "  dep- 
utations," or  committees,  to  take  charge  of  (i)  faith, 
(2)  unity,  (3)  reformation,  (4)  genera'  business.  These 
four  committees  were  chosen  out  of  every  "  nation  " 
and  of  every  rank — bishops,  parish  priests,  doctors 
of  law,  monks.  These  committees  were  reconstructed 
every  four  months,  and  they  chose  a  new  president 
every  month.  A  committee  of  twelve,  chosen  from 
the  five  great  countries,  decided  who  should  belong 
to  the  deputations,  and  through  them  to  the  council. 
The  reports  of  the  deputations  were  submitted  to  a 
general  congregation,  which  promulgated  the  decrees. 

This  looks  fair  enough,  and  many  of  its  features 
are  in  general  and  efficient  use  now  in  deliberative 
assemblies ;  but  it  did  not  work  well  at  Basel,  for  the 
reason  that  the  influence  of  the  prelates  and  high 
dignitaries  of  the  church  was  entirely  swamped  in  the 
number  of  inferior  clergy  who  were  allowed  to  vote. 
Men  of  learning  and  position  shrank  from  the  fierce 
democracy,  got  out  of  the  way,  quietly  left  Basel. 
The  personnel  was  all  the  time  changing,  and  the 
thread  of  business  was  lost.  Eneas  Sylvius  says  that 
cooks  and  stable-boys  got  in  to  vote,  but  this  is  be- 
yond doubt  a  gross  exaggeration.  It  shows,  however, 
that  there  was  great  looseness  in  this  most  important 
matter. 

While,  then,  it  is  true  that  the  Council  of  Basel 
passed  many  wise  and  judicious  measures  for  the 
reform  of  the  church,  and  showed  a  toleration  but 
rarely  exhibited  in  a  general  council,  it  is  also  true 


Small  Importance  of  the  Council.     259 


that  the  way  in  which  its  measures  were  passed,  and 

the  hasty  and  inconsiderate  action  often  shown,  have 
greatly  discredited  the  council,  especially  with  the 
Roman  and  Anglican  communions.  Another  point 
which  makes  against  the  council  is  the  too  great 
predominance  of  Germans  and  French.  Spaniards, 
Italians,  and  English  could  not  in  any  numbers  un- 
dertake the  long  journey.  The  small  account  taken 
of  this  council  in  the  Roman  communion  was  very 
evident  in  the  matter  of  the  dogma  of  the  immacu- 
late conception.  Basel  had  declared  favorably  for 
that,  but  its  declaration  counted  for  nothing  in  the 
council  of  1854,  which  decided  the  question  without 
any  reference  to  it. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

CONTINUATION   OF   THE    COUNCIL    OF    BASEL. 


HE  coldness  that  the  Pope  had  shown  to- 
wards the  council  was  somewhat  counter- 
acted by  the  news  from  France  that,  at 
a  large  meeting  of  the  clergy  at  Bourges, 
the  course  of  the  Basel  fathers  had  been 
enthusiastically  commended ;  and  the  Calixtines  sent 
the  council  word  that  they  were  willing  to  negotiate 
on  the  basis  of  the  four  articles.  It  was  resolved  to 
send  representatives  to  Eger,  that  the  preliminaries 
of  a  meeting  might  be  arranged.  Sigismund  also 
endeavored  to  induce  the  Pope  to  take  a  more  fa- 
vorable view  of  the  council,  but  Eugenius  answered 
his  letters  sarcastically,  saying,  "  You  had  better  let 
canons  and  councils  alone,  and  stick  to  fighting,  in 
which  you  have  been  so  successful."  This  cut  deep, 
for  Sigismund's  success  in  the  field  had  not  been 
very  remarkable.  The  history  of  Sigismund's  visit  to 
Rome  to  be  crowned,  and  all  his  troubles  and  vexa- 
tions in  Italian  affairs,  will  not  be  considered  in  this 
book.  He  advised  the  council  not  to  pay  any  at- 
tention to  the  Pope's  reiterated  order  to  dissolve,  but 
to  invite  him  to  Basel.     They  took  his  advice,  and 

260 


opposition  of  the  Pope  to  the  Council.    261 

on  April  29.  1432.  the  council  summoned  the  Pope 
either  to  come  in  person  or  to  send  representatives 
within  three  months.  . 

This  was  not  calculated  to  mollify  Eugcnu.s,  who 
proceeded   to   heap   upon   the   assembled   fathers  a 
choice   vocabulary  of  papal  epithets,  among  which 
"synagogue  of  Satan"  was  the  least  objectionable 
He  insLuated  that  any  person  who  would  put  an  end 
to  these  rebels  would  be  well  pleasing  to  God.      His 
curses,  however,  acted  as  blessings  to  the  council,  for 
it  increased  in  numbers  every  day.  and  daily  received 
letters  of  commendation  from  the  powers  of  Europe. 
Cardinals  began  to  slip  away  from  the  Tope  to  the 
council,  and  one  of  them.  Capranica.  brought  with  him 
as  secretary  a  young  man  of  brilliant  parts  to  whose 
literary  labors  we  are  very  much  indebted  for  a  great 
deal  of  information  about  the  council,  and  of  whom 
much  was  to  be  heard  in  the  future,  for  his  nan.e 
was  Eneas  Svlvius.  afterwards  Pope  Puis  II       Ihs 
youth  had  been  most  dissolute,  and  his  morals  were 
never  very  severe,  but  his  great  ability  rapidly  ad- 
vanced him.  ^ 
At  the  second  session  of  the  council.  February  I3. 
1432,  the  celebrated  and  much-discussed  decree  of 
Constance  was  renewed,  declaring  general  couiicils  to 
derive  their  authority  direct  from  Christ,  and  to  be 
superior  even  to  the  authority  of  the  Pope.     It  was 
in'the  third  session  that  the  summons  to  the  Pope 
was  decided  upon.     At  the  fourth  session.  June  20 
1432.  it  was  decreed  that  if  during  the  council  the 
Pope  should  die.  the  election  of  his  successor  must 
take  place  wherever  the  council  was  meeting.    It  was 


262    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

also  decreed  that  the  Pope  should  make  no  cardinals 
while  the  council  lasted.  The  fathers  took  the  great 
liberty  of  appointing  a  governor  for  the  Avignon 
territory  over  the  head  of  Eugenius's  own  nephew, 
appointed  by  himself.  At  the  fifth  session  the  council 
met  the  objections  of  the  Pope  to  Basel,  and  stated 
that  if  he  interfered  with  their  work  he  would  be 
grieving  the  Holy  Spirit.  At  the  sixth  session  the 
council  came  near  pronouncing  the  Pope  contuma- 
cious, but  his  legates  interceded  and  obtained  for  him 
further  time.  On  December  i8th  sixty  days'  further 
time  was  given  Eugenius  to  revoke  the  bull  of  dis- 
solution and  approve  the  council. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1433,  the  Bohemian  repre- 
sentatives, seven  nobles  and  eight  priests,  with  Pro- 
copius  at  their  head,  entered  Basel.  The  citizens  had 
been  lectured  severely  as  to  their  behavior  while  the 
Bohemians  were  there,  for  it  was  reported  that  they 
were  great  Puritans  and  would  be  shocked  at  the  light 
behavior  of  the  Balese.  These  deputies,  strangely 
dressed  and  savage-looking,  were  a  great  show;  but 
Cesarini  set  the  example  of  treating  them  with  the 
utmost  courtesy. 

On  the  Epiphany,  January  6th,  they  celebrated  the 
festival  in  their  own  lodgings,  for  no  church  was 
allowed  them.  Their  simple  forms  were  objects  of 
great  curiosity,  and  such  crowds  flocked  to  see  them 
that  Cesarini  was  afraid  they  might  alienate  people 
from  the  ordinary  mass ;  but  the  excitement  did  not 
last  long ;  very  few  persisted  in  going. 

The  discussion  on  the  Bohemian  question  com- 
menced on  January   16,   1433,  and  was  one  of  the 


Discussio7i  of  the  Bohemian  Question.   263 


most  interminable,  wordiest,  and  most  weary in^^  ever 
heard,  although  many  of  the  speakers  were  eminent 
men.  '  Some  of  the  speeches  were  eight  days  long, 
and  the  whole  subject  consumed  fifty  days.  The 
Bohemian  Rokyczana  was  the  most  eloquent  and  one 
of  the  longest  winded ;  but  John  of  Ragusa,  on  the 
part  of  the  council,  held  forth  steadily  from  January 
31st  to  February  I2th.  The  weary  council  found 
that  nothing  would  come  of  this  unending  oratory, 
and  they  appointed  fifteen  members  to  endeavor  to 
arrange  matters  in  private  with  the  fifteen  Bohemians. 
The  tact  and  the  Christian  courtesy  and  charity  of 
Cesarini  prevented  any  violent  language,  though  the 
discussions  were  often  very  heated,  and  the  tolerance 
and  good  temper  of  the  council  are  to  be  commended 
in  the  highest  degree. 

The  council  could  not  be  brought  to  accept  the 
four  articles,  though  they  were  willing  to  tolerate 
much  in  the  Bohemian  church  not  allowable  elsewhere. 
With  the  hope  of  peace,  they  sent  a  deputation  to 
Prague  with  the  returning  Bohemians,  who  left  Basel 
amid  the  kindest  feelings  and  with  a  deep  sense  of 
the  courtesy   shown  them.     This  deputation  could 
bring  about  no  conclusion,  and  returned  to  the  council 
to  report  that  the  Bohemians  difTered  so  among  them- 
selves that  any  union  seemed  improbable.     Another 
embassy   was  sent,  and  after  oceans  of  words  and 
much  diplomacy  and  wire-pulling,  on  November  30. 
1433,   the    Bohemian    Diet   accepted   the   following 
propositions  from  the  council:   i.  Those  who  so  de- 
sired could  receive  the  holy  eucharist  in  both  kinds, 
but  the  clergy  must  explain  that  our  Lord  is  perfectly 


264    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

present  in  each  kind.  2.  Private  persons  have  no  right 
to  punish  sins  or  crimes ;  it  belongs  to  those  whose 
duty  it  lawfully  was,  clergy  over  clergy,  and  laity  over 
laity.  3.  For  the  sake  of  order,  preachers  must  be 
authorized  by  their  superiors,  namely,  the  bishops  and 
deans.  4.  Individual  priests  might  inherit  fortunes 
and  the  churches  might  possess  temporalities,  with 
the  understanding  always  that  such  property  was 
faithfully  administered.  Around  this  "  compact,"  as 
it  was  called,  all  the  moderate  Bohemians  rallied,  for 
the  land  was  weary  of  war  and  stricken  with  plague ; 
but  the  Orphans  and  the  extreme  Taborites  would 
not  hear  to  it,  and  each  side  again  had  to  resort  to 
arms.  The  great  battle  of  Lepan,  where  thirteen 
thousand  Taborites  fell,  settled  the  question  in  favor 
of  the  adherents  of  the  council.  Fanaticism  no  longer 
had  the  upper  hand  in  Bohemia,  and  gradually  mod- 
erate views  and  temperate  counsels  prevailed. 

After  the  Bohemian  debate  at  Basel  the  council 
turned  its  attention  to  the  burning  question  of  the 
relations  between  it  and  the  Pope.  In  February, 
1433,  the  Pope  had  word  that  the  council  was  about 
to  proceed  with  his  impeachment,  and,  finding  that 
Sigismund  was  now  strongly  on  the  Basel  side,  felt 
that  he  could  not  longer,  with  any  safety  to  himself, 
keep  up  the  high-handed  course  he  had  hitherto 
pursued.  He  tried  every  way  to  move  the  council 
to  some  other  place ;  suggested  Bologna,  then  any 
city  in  Italy,  and  at  last  any  city  in  Germany ;  but 
the  sturdy  fathers  of  Basel  would  not  be  transferred, 
and  at  last,  driven  to  the  wall,  he  issued  a  bull 
agreeing  that  the  council  should  be  held  at  Basel, 


Appearance  of  Papal  Legates  /w  Basel.   265 


and  naming  (March  ist)  four  cardinals  as  legates  and 
presidents.     The  bull,  however,  struck  the  council  as 
very  vague.      It  agreed  that  a  council  could  be  held 
at  Basel,  but  it  ignored  the  existing  council,  and  it 
did  not  mention  the  reform  of  the  church  as  one  of 
the  points  for  discussion.    The  members  of  the  council 
saw  through  this  transparency,  and  on  April  27th  they 
decreed  that  general  councils  should  be  held  every 
tenth  year,  and  could  get  together  at  the  appointed 
time,  Pope  or  no  Pope  consenting  ;  that  a  Pope  trying 
to  impede  a  council  laid  himself  open  to  deposition  or 
suspension ;  and  that  the  present  council  could  not 
be  transferred  unless  two  thirds  of  each  deputation 
wished  it,  and  two  thirds  of  a  general  session  ap- 
proved it.     Every  cardinal  was  to  take  oath  that  if 
he  were  promoted  to  be  Pope  he  would  obey  the 
Constance  decrees.    These  were  noble  decisions,  and 
great  would  have  been  the  change  in  the  Western 
Church  if  they  had  been  carried  out ;  but  they  were, 
for  the  most  part,  mere  waste  words. 

When  the  papal  legates  arrived,  they  expected  to 
share  the  presidency  of  the  council  with  Cesarini,  but 
the  council  demurred.  They  feared  the  "Greeks 
bringing  gifts,"  and  above  all  they  feared  the  evident 
understanding  going  on  between  the  emperor  and 
the  Pope,  who  was  dangling  a  coronation  before  Sigis- 
mund's  eager  eyes.  The  emperor,  as  fortune  favored 
or  repelled  him,  was  now  on  this  side,  now  on  that, 
but  he  tried  hard  to  keep  the  fathers  from  indicting 
the  Pope.  He  secured  sixty  days'  extension  of  time 
for  him  in  which  to  answer  the  charges  against  him, 
and  the   emperor,    really   anxious  to  avoid  another 


266    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

schism,  strained  every  nerve  to  get  the  whole  indict- 
ment quashed.  He  induced  the  Pope,  August  ist, 
to  issue  another  bull,  acquiescing  in  the  council  from 
the  beginning,  and  asking  that  his  legates  be  admitted 
and  his  trial  abandoned.  This  bull  did  not  satisfy 
any  more  than  the  other.  The  men  at  Basel  did  not 
intend  to  be  merely  tolerated ;  they  insisted  that  the 
Pope  should  decree  that  Basel  from  the  first  had  been 
a  valid  council.  Sympathy,  however,  now  turned 
towards  the  Pope,  and  several  governments  notified 
Basel  that  it  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  the  bull. 
Thirty  days  more  were  then  granted  the  Pope ;  be- 
fore they  had  expired  Sigismund  came  in  person, 
October  iith.  He  pleaded  hard  for  the  Pope,  who 
was  busily  engaged,  he  said,  in  the  work  of  reforma- 
tion ;  and  after  endless  talk  he  procured  from  the 
council,  on  November  7th,  a  further  extension  of 
ninety  days. 

The  Pope  was  having  a  hard  time  at  home.  The 
Duke  of  Milan  and  other  Italian  princelets  were  ar- 
rayed against  him,  and  he  had  alienated  all  his  friends. 
He  was  obliged  most  unwillingly  to  fully  clear  him- 
self with  the  council,  for  there  could  be  no  peace  for 
him  unless  he  made  peace  with  it.  Hard  necessity 
then  forced  from  him  a  bull,  on  January  30,  1434, 
without  any  reservations  whatever.  The  council  was 
valid  from  the  beginning,  it  said,  and  had  the  full 
adhesion  of  the  Pope.  Great  was  the  joy  of  the 
fathers  over  their  triumph,  and  with  much  ceremony, 
on  February  3d,  they  expressed  themselves  satisfied, 
and  admitted  the  papal  legates  to  the  co-presidency, 
they  swearing  to  the  Constance  decrees  about  the 


Flight  of  Rugf)iius  from  Rome.       267 

supremacy  of  a  council  to  the  Pope.  Certainly  this 
would  seem  to  carry  the  papal  sanction  of  that  coun- 
cil with  it.  Everybody  at  Basel  thought  so,  and 
Sii^ismund,  while  disappointed  at  the  small  figure  he 
had  cut  in  the  transaction,  felt  that  he  need  no 
longer  remain  at  Basel,  which  he  left  with  much 
pomp  on  May  19,  1434. 

The  great  concessions  of  Eugenius  did  not  bring 
him  the  peace  he  expected.  The  popes  at  that  time 
slept  on  a  volcano,  and  on  the  29th  of  May  the  Roman 
populace  flew  to  arms  on  account  of  the  haughty 
manner  of  the  Pope's  nephew  in  receiving  some  re- 
quests from  them.  Once  again  the  old  cry  of  "  Roman 
republic  "  echoed  through  the  streets,  and  the  Pope, 
seeing  a  prison  looming  up  before  him,  managed,  as 
his  predecessors  had  done  and  his  successors  would 
do,  to  escape  in  disguise.  He  embarked  in  a  little 
fishing-boat,  and  was  rowed  swiftly  down  the  Tiber; 
not  swiftly  enough,  however,  to  prevent  discovery, 
and  stones  and  arrows  rained  upon  the  boat  from 
angry  Romans  on  either  bank.  But  the  little  craft 
passed  safely  through ;  Eugenius  reached  Ostia  in 
safety,  sailed  thence  to  Pisa,  and  so  to  Florence, 
where  he  found  refuge  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Maria 
Novella. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

CONTINUATION    OF   THE    COUNCIL. 

EFORE  the  emperor  left  Basel,  he  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  council,  by  the  mouth 
of  the  Bishop  of  Liibeck,  a  most  important 
matter,  viz.,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy. 
The  bishop  laid  before  each  deputation 
a  weighty  arraignment  of  the  morals  of  the  clergy, 
which,  he  justly  said,  nothing"  would  remedy  but  the 
permission  to  marry.  He  made  the  sweeping  charge 
that  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  was  living  in  con- 
cubinage or  adultery.  Laymen,  he  said,  would  not 
allow  their  wives  to  go  to  confession,  and  public 
odium  everywhere  rested  on  the  priestly  caste.  There 
was  a  general  fear  that  the  property  of  the  church 
would  be  alienated  to  the  children  of  priests.  Greek 
priests  married,  the  Jewish  priests  always  married ; 
why  could  not  Catholic  priests  do  the  same,  and  avoid 
this  awful  scandal  ?  His  plea  found  many  supporters, 
and  it  is  worth  while  to  recall  the  words  of  the  aged 
Cardinal  of  St.  Peter's :  "  Although  I  am  an  old  man, 
and  have  no  inclination  to  matrimony,  yet  I  think  it 
would  be  a  holy  act  to  '  restore '  their  wives  to  the 
clergy,  for  the  grace  of  being  able  to  resist  the  law 

268 


Summary  of  the  Work  of  the  Council.   269 

of  the  flesh  is  not  given  to  all  men."  Pity  it  was 
that  the  fierce  opposition  of  the  monks  caused  this 
question  to  be  smothered  as  being  untimely  and  not 
properly  to  be  considered  then. 

The  council  was  now  much  more  frequented,  and 
the  year  1434  was  its  most  prosperous  time.  The 
most  prominent  men  in  it  were  Louis  of  Aries,  who 
was  afterwards  its  president,  the  Archbishop  of  Pa- 
lermo, Cesarini,  and,  above  all,  Eneas  Sylvius,  and 
Nicolas  of  Cusa,  a  Hollander,  much  interested  in  the 
reform  of  the  clergy  and  the  success  of  the  council, 
until  his  sense  of  loyalty  to  the  Pope  induced  him  to 
leave  it  and  go  over  to  the  Pope's  council  at  Florence. 

It  must  not  be  thought,  because  so  much  has  been 
said  about  the  Bohemian  diflficulties  and  the  quarrel 
with  the  Pope,  that  the  council  did  not  devote  much 
time  to  the  crying  evils  in  the  church,  which  it  had 
been  summoned  to  reform.  Its  subsequent  conduct 
nullified  much  of  the  good  which  the  decrees  it  passed 
might  have  effected,  but  that  they  were  passed  shows 
how  strong  a  party  there  was  in  the  church  for  ref- 
ormation. Robertson  sums  up  as  follows  the  ques- 
tions which  it  decided  :  "  Decrees  were  passed  for  the 
entire  freedom  of  elections  in  churches,  againstsimony, 
expectations,  usurpations  of  patronage,  reservations, 
and,  above  all,  annates  ;  against  frivolous  appeals,  the 
abuse  of  interdicts,  the  concubinage  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  burlesque  festivals  held  in  churches.  Rules 
were  laid  down  as  to  the  election  of  popes  and  their 
conduct.  Each  Pope  was  to  profess  his  allegiance  to 
the  Constance  decrees,  and  every  year,  at  his  anni- 
versary mass,  this  profession  was  to  be  read  over  to 


270    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

him.  There  were  to  be  but  twenty-four  cardinals, 
taken  from  all  countries,  none  to  be  admitted  without 
the  consent  of  the  others,  and  the  nephew  of  a  Pope 
was  not  eligible  to  the  cardinalate." 

Let  us  turn  now  to  a  subject  long  uppermost  in 
men's  minds,  and  one  of  the  subjects  for  the  con- 
sideration of  which  the  council  had  met :  the  reunion 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  Ambassadors  from 
Greece  arrived  in  Basel  July  12,  1434,  and  proposed 
a  conference.  Their  terms  were,  all  expenses  paid, 
and  the  place  of  meeting  to  be  in  Italy,  or,  anyway, 
a  city  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps,  as  they  would 
not  consent  to  cross  them.  After  the  manner  of 
Greeks,  they  were  dickering  with  the  Pope  at  the 
same  time,  and  each  party  was  most  anxious  to  ob- 
tain the  feather  for  its  cap  of  having  brought  about 
the  meeting.  The  Pope  was  willing  to  let  it  take 
place  in  Constantinople,  but  the  fathers  at  Basel  were 
determined  not  to  allow  it  to  be  held  beyond  the  Alps. 
The  Pope  saw  his  opportunity ;  he  saw  that  he  could 
make  it  appear  that  he,  and  not  the  council,  was 
anxious  about  this  matter,  and  that  they  would  make 
no  concessions,  while  he  was  willing  to  accommodate 
the  Greeks.  This  would  give  him  immense  prepon- 
derance with  both  Greeks  and  Latins. 

The  council,  after  a  good  deal  of  huckstering  with 
different  cities  which  were  trying  to  secure  the  place, 
had  agreed,  by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  forty-two 
out  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-five,  to  adjourn  to  Avig- 
non ;  but  this  vote  had  not  been  fairly  obtained.  It 
had  only  been  made  possible  by  calling  in  every  parish 
priest  around  Basel  who  could  possibly  be  procured, 


Conflict  of  Papal  and  Conciliar  Parties.   2  7 1 

and  allo\vin£(  every  one  to  vote.  This  most  unwise  and 
unusual  proccedin<^  much  disgusted  Cesarini  and  the 
more  moderate  and  conservative  prelates.  The  Pope 
did  not  lose  the  chance ;  he  sent  the  Archbishop  of 
Tarentum  as  a  new  legate  to  accompany  the  Greek 
ambassadors  who  had  been  with  him  in  Bologna. 
Avignon  had  failed  to  fulfil  its  contract  about  the 
money  necessary  for  the  expenses  of  the  Greek  em- 
bassy, and  the  time  stipulated  being  up,  April  12, 
1437,  Cesarini  pleaded  that  another  place  should  be 
chosen.  The  new  legate  supported  him.  The  papal 
party  could  only  muster  seventy  votes,  while  their 
opponents  could  count  on  two  hundred;  but  the 
minority  was  resolved  not  to  submit. 

No  agreement  could  be  reached,  and  on  May  7th 
the  conflict  came  to  a  head  in  one  of  the  most  shame- 
ful scenes  of  disorder  a  council  had  ever  witnessed. 
The  decree  of  the  majority  adjourning  to  Avignon 
was  to  be  read  by  the  Bishop  of  Albienza  from  the 
pulpit  of  the  cathedral.  The  moment  he  began  to 
read,  the  Bishop  of  Porto,  in  another  part  of  the 
church,  jumped  on  a  table,  armed  men  closing  in 
around  him,  and  began  to  read  the  minority  decree 
for  Bologna.  One  reader  strove  to  outyell  the  other, 
and  the  poor  Cardinal  of  Aries  shouted  vainly  for 
order.  First  one  side  sang  Te  Deum,  then  the  other, 
and  the  service  ended  in  the  wildest  confusion.  The 
next  thing  was  to  affix  the  seal  of  the  council  to  the 
document;  but  the  seal,  which  had  three  custodians, 
was  stolen  out  of  its  box,  and  was  found  to  be  affixed 
to  both  majority  and  minority  decrees.  Amid  the 
wildest  confusion,  the  Archbishop  of  Tarentum  avowed 


272   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

himself  to  be  the  thief,  and  justified  his  act  by  his 
duty  to  the  church  and  the  Pope.  After  this  avowal 
he  thought  it  wise  to  vanish  from  Basel  as  soon  as 
possible.  He  forwarded  the  minority  decree  to  the 
Pope,  who  accepted  it  as  the  true  decision  of  the 
council,  and  on  September  8th  published  a  bull  al- 
lowing that  body  to  remain  thirty  days  at  Basel,  and 
then  transferring  it  to  Ferrara,  where  those  of  Basel 
who  adhered  to  him,  and  all  other  prelates  whom  he 
could  induce  to  attend,  met  and  opened  a  council 
January  8,  1438. 

This  council  will  be  separately  considered.  Let  us 
return  to  the  Council  of  Basel,  which,  however  much 
it  might  decree  and  storm  and  assert  itself,  lost  ground 
from  the  beginning  of  the  proceedings  at  Ferrara. 
Naturally  the  action  of  the  minority  had  greatly 
angered  the  majority,  already  very  hostile  to  the 
Pope,  and  determined  to  humble  him,  as  they  had 
already  shown  by  depriving  him  of  that  large  part  of 
his  income  called  "annates."  On  the  31st  of  July 
new  charges  were  made  against  Eugenius,  among 
which  was  one  that  he  intended  to  sell  Avignon  to 
pay  for  the  Greek  expenses.  He  was  cited  to  appear 
in  person  or  by  proctor  within  sixty  days.  At  the 
twenty-eighth  session,  October  i,  1437,  his  neglect 
to  answer  was  formally  reported,  and  he  was  pro- 
nounced in  contumacy.  In  vain  Sigismund  wrote 
and  protested,  but  in  December  of  that  year  his  voice 
was  closed  by  death,  and,  whatever  his  faults,  it  must 
be  said  of  him  that  he  had  labored  hard  and  earnestly 
to  prevent  schism. 

Cesarini  felt  that  he  could  no  lone^er  countenance 


Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bo  urges.       273 

tlie  irregular  and  anarchical  doings  at  Basel,  and,  full 
of  bitter  disappointment  that  the  six  years  he  had 
spent  there  in  the  interests  of  peace  and  reform  had 
been  spent  in  \ain,  he  left  Basel  January  9,  1438,  and 
Louis  d'Allcmand,  Cardinal  of  Aries,  was  elected 
president  in  his  place.  The  legates,  of  course,  had 
retired  long  before.  The  council  received  some  crumbs 
of  comfort  from  the  Synod  of  Bourges,  July,  1448, 
which  put  forth  a  celebrated  document  called  the 
"  pragmatic  sanction,"  interesting  not  only  because 
it  accepted  the  reforming  decrees  of  Basel,  but  be- 
cause it  asserted  boldly  the  independence  of  a  na- 
tional church,  and  its  right  to  review  the  decisions 
of  a  general  council.  A  German  diet  at  Mayence  in 
March,  1439,  also  indorsed  the  Basel  reforms,  but 
did  not  commit  itself  to  the  quarrel  between  Pope 
and  council.  Apart  from  these,  it  was  evident  that 
the  council  aroused  but  a  lukewarm  interest  in  kings 
and  senates. 

Now  that  the  greater  part  of  the  moderate  mem- 
bers had  withdrawn,  the  council  went  on  with  its  at- 
tack on  the  Pope  with  renewed  fierceness.  The  charges 
against  him  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  number, 
most  of  them  repetitions,  and  many  of  them  absurd. 
It  was,  however,  after  much  talking  agreed,  about 
the  middle  of  April,  1439,  to  discuss  and  vote  upon 
eight  propositions:  (i)  that  it  is  a  truth  that  a  general 
council  has  power  over  a  Pope ;  (2)  also  a  truth  that 
a  Pope  cannot  propria  motii  transfer  or  dissolve  a 
general  council ;  (3)  any  one  who  says  these  things 
are  not  so  is  a  heretic ;  (4)  Eugenius  IV.  implicitly 
denied  these  things  when  he  first  attempted  to  dis- 


2  74    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

solve  this  council;  (5)  but  he  withdrew  his  denial 
when  the  council  remonstrated ;  (6)  his  second  at- 
tempt, however,  to  dissolve  the  council  contravenes 
the  truth  of  the  first  two  propositions ;  (7)  his  per- 
sistence in  this  act  shows  him  a  lapsed  heretic ;  (8) 
by  calling  a  new  council  he  shows  himself  a  persistent 
schismatic. 

Then  came  days  of  heated  discussion  on  these 
points,  the  Pope's  side  being  led  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Palermo,  and  the  other  side  by  the  Cardinal  of 
Aries,  who  was  far  more  than  a  match  for  his  op- 
ponent, and  as  a  speaker  and  party  leader  has  rarely 
been  surpassed.  When  the  time  came  to  vote,  there 
was  the  wildest  confusion,  and  at  last,  in  the  most 
arbitrary  manner,  raising  his  voice  above  all  the  din, 
D'Allemand  cried  out,  "  I  declare  the  first  three  prop- 
ositions passed,"  and  closed  the  session.  At  the  next 
session  there  was  more  confusion  and  greater  noise,  the 
Archbishop  of  Palermo  protesting  and  complaining 
bitterly  that  he  had  been  outwitted.  He  and  a  number 
of  others  then  left  the  room.  The  general  session 
for  pubHshing  the  decree  was  held  May  i6th,  but  the 
merest  fragment  of  the  episcopacy  was  present — no 
Spaniards,  one  Italian,  and  from  all  other  kingdoms 
only  twenty.  The  president  did  a  thing  which,  even 
to  those  believing  in  the  inherent  efficacy  of  relics, 
must  appear  ridiculous.  He  gathered  together  all 
the  reHcs,  leg-bones  of  saints,  etc.,  which  could  be 
found  in  Basel,  and  put  them  in  the  vacant  seats  of 
the  bishops.  It  was  a  curious  substitute,  but  history 
records  that  the  great  crowd  wept  over  it  as  a  most 
moving  spectacle.    There  was  one  comfort :  the  relics 


Council  Deposes  Eugenius.  275 

could  not  vote ;  D'Allemand  had  it  all  his  own  way, 
and  the  decree  was  passed. 

On  June  23d  the  other  five  propositions  were 
passed,  and  on  June  25th  there  was  another  session, 
at  which  a  small  number  of  bishops  were  present, 
and  between  three  and  four  hundred  of  the  lower 
clergy.  The  Pope  was  deposed,  and  all  the  usual 
epithets  of  contumely  were  heaped  upon  him.  He 
was  declared  to  be  guilty  of  simony  and  perjury,  a 
schismatic,  a  damnable  heretic,  etc.  All  Christians 
were  released  from  their  oath  of  fealty  to  him,  and 
he  was  styled  Gabriel  Condolmieri.  Nothing  that  he 
did  or  said  was  to  be  counted  of  any  authority.  This, 
of  course,  was  principally  aimed  against  the  proceed- 
ings at  Ferrara  and  Florence. 

The  next  step  w^as  the  election  of  a  new  Pope  ;  but 
the  plague  was  raging  violently  in  Basel ;  five  thou- 
sand of  its  citizens,  and  many  of  the  attendants  on 
the  council,  died  of  it  that  summer,  and  the  sittings 
of  that  body  had  to  be  al^andoned.  It  met  again  in 
October,  pAigenius  in  the  meantime  having  cursed 
its  adherents  in  the  choicest  language.  They  were 
a  "  horde  of  robbers,  and  an  assemblage  of  all  the 
devils  in  the  universe  "  to  consummate  their  work  of 
iniquity  in  desolating  the  church  of  God.  The  first 
business  was,  of  course,  the  election  of  a  Pope,  and 
the  first  question.  Who  should  vote?  There  was 
only  one  cardinal  now  left  in  the  council,  D'Allemand 
of  Aries,  and,  as  the  choice  of  a  Pope  could  not  be 
left  solely  to  him  (although  he  really  did  choose  him), 
it  was  necessary  to  arrange  a  body  of  electors.  The 
number  was  fixed  at  thirty-three,  and  a  nominating 


276    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

committee  was  chosen,  empowered  to  select  twenty- 
nine  others  besides  themselves.  The  committee 
showed  the  greatest  wisdom,  as  was  demonstrated 
by  the  approval  with  which  their  choice  was  received. 

The  electors  were  twelve  bishops,  the  Cardinal 
of  Aries  being  one,  seven  abbots,  five  theologians, 
and  nine  doctors,  all  these  being  in  priest's  orders. 
The  conclave  was  fixed  for  October  30,  1439.  The 
Cardinal  of  Aries,  as  has  been  already  said,  had  a 
candidate  in  his  mind  who,  he  felt  tolerably  sure, 
would  be  elected.  He  knew  that  some  one  of  some 
political  weight  must  be  chosen,  and  there  was  one 
man  eligible,  who  was  both  a  person  of  exalted  po- 
litical position  and  a  sort  of  ecclesiastic — Amadeus 
VIII.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  ancestor  of  King  Humbert, 
who,  overcome  with  grief  at  the  death  of  his  eldest 
son,  had  resigned  his  dukedom  and  retired  with  seven 
of  his  friends  to  a  quasi-hermitage  at  Ripaille.  The 
life  they  led  there  was  probably  not  a  very  ascetic 
one,  or  we  would  scarcely  have  had  the  French  phrase 
"  faire  ripaille,"  meaning  to  make  extraordinary  good 
cheer;  but  there  is  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that 
it  was  marked  by  any  low  or  unworthy  conditions. 
Much  that  was  uncharitably  said  against  it  was  said 
by  bitter  enemies  of  the  antipope,  and  from  them  also 
sprang  the  report  that  Amadeus  had  given  up  the 
dukedom  and  put  on  this  semblance  of  hermit  life  so 
that  he  would  stand  a  better  chance  of  being  chosen 
Pope  when  the  time  came.  When  one  thinks  how 
heavy  and  thankless  a  charge  the  place  of  rival  Pope 
was  likely  to  be,  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  a 
man  would  give  up  the  dukedom  of  Savoy  for  it. 


Election  of  Ainadcus  of  Savoy.       277 


That  point,  however,  cannot  well  be  settled  ;  suffice 
it  to  say  that  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  conclave  the 
choice  of  the  electors  fell  on  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who, 
when  he  was  notified  of  his  election,  professed  great 
unwillingness  to  accept  the  office.    He  stipulated  that 
he  should   retain   his  name  and  his  beard;  but  he 
yielded  the  first  point,  and  was  called  Felix,  and  when 
he  saw  how  odd  he  looked  amid  all  the  clean-shaven 
bishops  and  priests,  he  consented  to  be  shaved.     He 
was  not  in  holy  orders  at  the  time  of  his  election,  but 
neither  was  Martin  V.    That  defect  was  readily  reme- 
died, and  he  was  crowned  at  Basel  July  23,   1440, 
with  great  pomp,  the  Cardinal  of  Aries  officiating, 
and   the   duke's  two  sons   assisting  at   the   mass,^  a 
strange  sight  indeed.     One  reason  for  choosing  him 
had  been  his  wealth,  for  no  one  knew  where  to  raise 
any  income  for  another  Tope,  since  Eugenius  held  all 
the  papal  territory.    Amadeus,  however,  did  not  much 
relish  the  idea  of  being  expected  to  support  himself, 
and  said  indignantly,  "You  have  abolished  annates; 
on  what  do  you  expect  the  Pope  to  live  ?     I  cannot 
use  up  all  my  patrimony  and  leave  my  sons  penni- 
less."   The  council  then  put  the  tax  of  a  fifth-penny 
on  all  benefices  for  the  Pope's  maintenance ;  but  it 
was  an  empty  decree,  for  the   tax   never  could  be 
collected,  and  the  new  Pope  had  to  pay  his  own  ex- 
penses. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  both  popes  now  fired 
volleys  of  anathemas  and  curses  at  each  other,  and 
Eugenius  even  went  the  length  of  pronouncing  the 
degradation  of  the  archbishops  of  Cologne  and  Treves, 
who  adhered  to  Felix ;  but  nobody  paid  much  attention 


278    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

to  him.  Indeed,  the  changed  state  of  things  was  very 
evident  in  the  apathetic  way  with  which  the  question 
of  the  two  popes  was  treated  by  the  kings  of  Chris- 
tendom. France  called  Felix  "  Monsieur  de  Savoie," 
and  the  German  emperor  was  very  careful  not  to  say 
"  your  Holiness  "  to  him.  The  important  kingdoms 
either  adhered  to  Eugenius  or  played  fast  and  loose. 

At  the  forty-third  session  of  the  council,  July  i, 
144 1,  the  feast  of  the  Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
July  2d,  was  decreed,  but  nothing  more  of  any  im- 
portance took  place  at  Basel.  Fewer  and  fewer  be- 
came its  members,  especially  among  prelates  of  any 
standing.  It  dragged  along  until  June  16,  1443, 
when  it  fixed  on  Lyons  as  the  place  of  meeting  of 
the  next  general  council ;  and  this  may  practically 
be  counted  its  last  session,  although  it  pretended  to 
live  a  few  years  longer.  It  is  not  proposed  to  trace 
further  the  history  of  either  Eugenius  or  the  antipope 
Felix,  who  amounted  to  nothing.  The  scope  of  this 
volume  extends  no  further  than  the  Council  of  Basel, 
although  the  story  of  the  Pope's  council  at  Ferrara 
and  Florence  will  be  given  in  a  separate  chapter. 

While  some  Protestant  writers  consider  Basel  of 
great  authority,  it  is  generally  discredited  through- 
out the  Roman  communion,  and  has  but  little  weight 
with  Anglican  historians.  It  began  well,  and  many 
of  its  acts  were  of  the  highest  importance ;  but  it 
killed  itself  by  its  own  loose  methods  of  admitting 
members,  and  by  the  confusion  and  quarrels  which 
marked  its  closing  years.  It  falls  far  below  Con- 
stance or  Pisa  in  that  great  trio  of  reforming  councils. 
Many  of  the  principles  for  which  the  reforming  party 


Present  Effect  of  the  Reforming  Councils.   279 

contended  in  these  three  councils  have  become,  the 
Vatican  Council  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  the 
working  principles  of  the  modern  Roman  Church. 
Popes  no  longer  depose  princes  and  absolve  subjects 
from  their  allegiance  ;  cardinals  can  no  longer  hold  a 
dozen  sees  and  pocket  their  revenues  ;  heretics  can- 
not be  burned  or  beheaded.  The  law  of  libel  will 
soon  clap  in  prison  an  over-zealous  bishop  who  ex- 
communicates, and  indulgences,  while  still  granted, 
are  not  now  hawked  about  the  country.  The  same 
dogmas  may  be  held  by  Leo  XIII.  as  byEugenius  IV., 
but  they  are  often  held  only  as  a  theory,  not  as  possible 
to  be  put  in  practice  ;  and  day  by  day,  in  spite  of 
the  constant  cry  of  Rome  that  only  by  entire  sub- 
mission to  her  can  there  be  any  union  of  the  faithful, 
facts  show  that  the  differences  are  being  softened  and 
the  distances  lessened. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  FERRARA  AND  FLORENCE. 

HE  Council  of  Basel  and  Pope  Eugenius 
bid  against  each  other  for  the  Greek  dep- 
uties, coming  to  the  West  to  beg  for  aid 
against  the  ev^er-encroaching  Turk,  who 
had  gradually  snatched  from  them  their 
vast  empire  and  left  them  very  little  more  than  the 
city  of  Constantinople.  The  price  of  the  aid  was  to 
be  submission  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  an  abjura- 
tion of  certain  points  in  the  Greek  dogma  and  disci- 
pline. The  Pope  had  the  most  money  and  the  most 
flattering  tongue,  and  he  captured  the  prize.  He 
hired  galleys  from  the  Venetians  to  transport  the 
embassy,  and  on  the  29th  of  November,  1437,  the 
Emperor  of  Constantinople,  John  Palaeologus,  the 
Patriarch  Joasaph,  twenty-two  bishops,  and  a  great 
train  of  priests  and  nobles,  five  hundred  in  all,  all 
furnished  with  splendid  clothes,  and  the  theologians 
armed  with  ponderous  tomes  of  Greek  theology,  set 
sail  for  Venice,  where  they  were  received  with  a 
pomp  which  dazzled  even  their  eyes,  accustomed  as 
they  were  to  Oriental  splendor.  This  was  February 
8,  1438.     The  Pope  was  to  meet  them  at  Ferrara, 

280 


Contentio7i  of  the  Greeks  for  Equality.   281 


and  early  in  March  the  Emperor  Joh;i  reached  there, 
passing  the  patriarch  on  the  road,  very  much  nettled 
at  being  left  behind.  The  Pope  met  him  at  the  palace 
gate  and  prevented  him  from  kneeling,  kissed  him, 
and  gave  him  a  seat  at  his  right.  The  Pope's  cham- 
berlains lifted  up  the  papal  cassock  and  got  the  Pope's 
foot  all  ready  to  kiss ;  but  the  Greeks  played  they 
did  not  see  it. 

A  day  or  two  afterwards  came  the  patriarch,  who 
was  told  that  he  would  be  expected  to  kiss  the  Pope's 
foot.      He  absolutely  refused.     "  If  the  Pope  be  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter,"  he  said,  "  we  are  successors 
of  the  other  apostles.      Did  they  kiss  Peter's  foot?" 
He    threatened   to   turn    about   and   go   home,   and 
would  have  done  so  if  Eugenius  had  not  compromised. 
The  foot-kissing  was  given  up,  and  the  Pope  received 
him  with  a  chaste  salute,  seating  him,  very  much  to 
his  annoyance,  on  a  level  with  the  cardinals.     As 
neither  Pope  nor  patriarch   could   understand  each 
other  an  interpreter  had  to  be  called  in.     The  thin- 
skinned  Greeks  were  determined   not   to   see   their 
patriarch  put  down,  and  when  they  went  to  inspect 
the  church   where  the  council  was  to  be  held,  and 
saw  the  high- placed  throne  for  the  Pope  alone,  they 
vowed,  emperor  and  all,  that  they  would  not  go  near 
it   unless  different  arrangements  were  made.     The 
Pope's  chair  was  then  lowered  several  pegs;  on  his 
right  was  a  vacant  chair  for  the  Emperor  of  the  West 
and  the  Latins,  on  his  left  a  chair  for  the  Eastern 
emperor,  and  next  him  the  patriarch  and  the  other 
Greek  dignitaries.     The  Greek  emperor  declined  to 
begin  business  until  some  of  the  Western  potentates, 


282    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

who  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence,  should  ap- 
pear, and  a  long  time  was  wasted  waiting  for  them ; 
but  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  alone  was  represented. 

At  last  the  persuasive  tongue  of  Cardinal  Cesarini 
induced  the  Greeks  to  consent  to  the  opening  of  the 
discussions,  and  they  began  June  4,  1438.  The  leaders 
on  the  Latin  side  were  Cesarini  and  John  of  Monte- 
negro, and  on  the  Greek  side  Bessarion,  Bishop  of 
Nicea,  and  Mark  of  Ephesus.  Four  points  were  con- 
sidered the  most  important,  and  these  only  were  to 
be  discussed:  (i)  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit; 
(2)  purgatory ;  (3)  leavened  bread  in  the  holy  com- 
munion ;  (4)  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  The  doc- 
trine of  purgatory  was  first  taken  up.  The  Latin 
doctrine  was  that  sins  not  repented  of  during  life  are 
purged  by  material  fire ;  but  the  Greek  doctrine 
taught  that  they  are  purged  by  pain  and  grief,  but 
by  no  physical  torment.  The  Greeks  taught  also 
that  neither  punishment  nor  reward  is  complete  until 
after  the  resurrection.  The  Latins  admitted  this 
about  punishment,  but  held  that  the  blessed  enjoyed 
perfect  happiness  in  heaven,  though  it  could  not  be 
deemed  eternal  happiness  until  after  the  judgment. 
These  first  conferences  showed  plainly  that,  while  the 
Latins  were  perfectly  agreed  on  their  doctrine,  the 
Greeks  differed  greatly  among  themselves ;  but  a  long 
discussion  did  not  disclose  very  much  important  dif- 
ference between  the  two  churches. 

The  conferences  were  now  interrupted  by  the 
breaking  out  of  the  plague  in  Ferrara,  and  of  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  bishops  present  at  the  opening 
scarce  fifty  remained.     The  Greeks  were  very  much 


The  ''  Filioquer  283 

frightened,  and  many  ran  away,  but  were  caught  and 
brought  back.  Some  few  did  get  away  and  reached 
Constantinople,  where,  by  the  orders  of  the  patriarch, 
they  were  flogged  for  cowardice.  It  was  October 
before  another  session  of  the  council  could  be  held, 
and  the  question  then  was  the  doctrine  of  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  Nicene  Creed  in  its  original  form  read,  "  We 
believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  proceedeth  from  the 
Father;"  but  in  the  Weste/n  Church  it  had  been 
thought  that  this  expression  was  not  clear,  and  der- 
ogated from  the  dignity  of  the  Son ;  so  the  words 
had  been  added,  at  times  and  places  not  necessary 
to  note  here,  "  Filioque "  ("  and  from  the  Son  "). 
The  Greeks,  great  metaphysicians,  thought  this  threw 
into  dispute  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  The  modern 
opinion  in  the  Western  Church  seems  to  be  that, 
while  the  addition  was  unfortunate,  it  does  not  teach 
any  heresy  or  change  any  doctrine,  and  its  being 
there  is  not  important.  Of  course  there  are  theolo- 
gians who  fiercely  deny  this  and  battle  for  its  removal 
from  the  creed  ;  and  if  there  is  ever  to  be  a  union 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  the  "  Filioque" 
will  probably  have  to  be  dropped  ;  not  that  the  two 
churches  really  hold  any  different  doctrine  about  the 
Holy  Spirit,  but  because  the  Greek  Church  holds 
that  without  a  universal  council  no  words  ought  to 
be  added  to  or  taken  away  from  the  creeds.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  political  feeling  and  ecclesiastical  jeal- 
ousy between  the  two  churches  had  magnified  this 
difference  until  it  came  to  have,  and  still  has,  an  im- 
portance it  little  deserves.     One  party  of  the  Greeks 


284    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

wanted  to  discuss  first  the  question,  "  Ought  an  ad- 
dition ever  to  be  made  to  the  creeds?  "  and  then  to 
come  to  the  discussion  of  the  Double  Procession.  This 
course  was  chosen,  and  an  interminable  talk  took 
place  upon  it,  which  very  evidently  would  lead  to  no 
result.  The  astute  Cesarini,  with  immense  difficulty, 
and  only  successful  because  the  news  came  that 
Constantinople  was  dangerously  threatened  by  the 
Turks,  at  last  extorted  from  the  Greeks  a  consent  to 
discuss  the  doctrine. 

The  Pope  was  anxious  to  transfer  the  council  to 
Florence,  for  the  plague  was  raging  at  Ferrara,  the 
Duke  of  Milan's  general  was  plundering  the  neigh- 
borhood, so  that  no  money  reached  the  papal  coffers, 
and  the  Florentines  had  promised  him  a  good  round 
sum  if  he  would  move  the  council  there.  The  Greeks 
were  very  loath  to  go,  for  they  dreaded  the  mountain 
crossing,  and  they  did  not  wish  to  go  any  farther 
from  their  own  land.  The  all-powerful  argument 
was,  however,  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  "  Unless 
you  come  you  get  no  money,  and  we  are  all  going; 
what  will  you  do  then?"  So  they  yielded,  and  by 
February  16,  1439,  all  parties  were  safe  in  Florence 
and  ready  to  begin  the  weary  controversy.  The 
Emperor  John  was  much  cast  down,  for,  subtle  Greek 
that  he  was,  he  had  hoped  to  play  ofif  the  Council  of 
Basel  against  the  Pope,  and  by  holding  out  hopes  to 
both  sides  to  get  money  out  of  both ;  but  he  found 
that  nobody  cared  much  about  the  Council  of  Basel, 
and  that  it  could  do  him  no  good.  His  only  hope, 
he  saw,  was  in  the  Pope,  who  was  going  to  be  a  hard 
taskmaster  and  make  hard  terms,  which  tjie  emperor, 


Discussion  of  the  Double  Procession.    285 

as  it  afterwards  proved,  would  find  much  difficulty 
in  carrying  out  on  his  return. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1439,  the  public  discussion 
on  the  doctrine  of  the  Double  Procession  was  begun, 
the  principal  speakers,  and  very  long-winded  ones 
they  were,  being,  on  the  papal  side  John  of  Monte- 
negro, and  on  the  Greek  side  Mark  of  Ephesus. 
Only  Greek  manuscripts  were  to  be  used  as  author- 
ities. It  is  useless  to  consider  in  detail  the  contro- 
versy ;  but  at  last  a  statement  of  John  that  "  the 
Latin  Church  recognized  the  Father  as  the  only  source 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost "  was  accepted  by 
the  Greeks  as  of  the  same  meaning  as  the  language 
of  St.  Maximus,  a  celebrated  Greek  theologian  of  the 
seventh  century.  This  was  the  initial  point  of  agree- 
ment, though  the  extreme  Greek  party  fought  long 
and  desperately.  Bessarion  was  probably  nearest  the 
truth  when  he  argued  that  the  Latin  dogma  ex- 
pressed by  ff  ("  from  the  Son  ")  and  the  Greek  dta 
("  through  the  Son ")  were  synonymous,  if  both 
agreed  that  there  could  be  but  one  cause  of  the  pro- 
cession. 

The  sudden  death  of  the  patriarch  seemed  likely 
to  put  a  stop  to  all  proceedings,  and  Pope  and  em- 
peror were  almost  in  despair;  but  it  was  found  that 
he  had  left  a  paper  agreeing  under  certain  conditions 
to  accept  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  Church.  At 
last,  after  infinite  diplomacy  and  halts  and  advances 
beyond  number,  on  July  4th  the  final  decree  was 
finished,  running  in  the  Pope's  name,  *'  with  the  con- 
sent of  our  dear  son,  the  Emperor  of  the  East,"  and 
on  July  5th  it  was  signed  by  one  hundred  and  fifteen 


286   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Latins  and  thirty-three  Greeks,  the  latter  protesting 
much  and  assenting  most  reluctantly. 

The  conclusions  reached  on  the  four  points  were 
these:  i.  The  question  of  the  double  procession  was 
compromised  (Robertson)  on  the  ground  that  the 
Greeks,  by  speaking  of  the  Spirit  as  proceeding  from 
the  Father,  did  not  exclude  the  Son,  but  only  in- 
tended to  guard  against  the  idea  that  the  Spirit  pro- 
ceeded from  two  principles ;  and  since  the  Latins 
disavowed  this,  the  two  churches  really  held  the  same 
truth.  2.  The  holy  eucharist  may  be  celebrated 
either  with  leavened  or  unleaxened  bread,  each  church 
to  retain  its  own  custom.  3.  Souls  whose  sins  have 
not  been  full}'  expiated  in  this  life  are  purified  by 
purgatorial  fires,  each  church  retaining  its  view  of  the 
nature  of  purgatory.  Souls  in  purgatory  can  be  helped 
by  masses  and  good  works.  4.  (Creighton)  The  Pope 
is  recognized  as  the  sovereign  pontiff.  Vicegerent  and 
Vicar  of  Christ,  shepherd  and  teacher  of  all  Christians, 
and  ruler  of  the  church  of  God,  saving  the  privileges 
and  rights  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  East. 

On  July  6th  a  splendid  service  was  held  to  cele- 
brate the  long-wished-for  and  now  seemingly  accom- 
plished union  between  the  Eastern  and  Western 
churches.  The  Greeks  had  the  finest  clothes,  but 
mass  was  sung  with  the  "  Filioque  "  in  the  creed.  The 
Pope  had  triumphed,  and  he  intended  to  make  the 
most  of  it.  The  Greeks  were  paid  up,  and  a  treaty 
was  signed  by  the  Pope  and  emperor  as  follows:  i. 
The  Pope  to  send  back  in  a  handsome  manner  and 
at  his  own  expense  all  the  Greeks.  2.  The  Pope  to 
furnish  every  year  two  galleys  and  three  hundred 


Greeks  meet  with  Hostile  Reception.   287 


men 


„....-at-arms  for  the  defence  of  Constantinople.  3.  All 
ships  going  to  the  Holy  Land  to  touch  at  Constan- 
tinople. 4.  In  any  case  of  great  extremity  there,  the 
Pope  to  furnish  twenty  galleys  for  six  months,  or  ten 
for  a  year.  5.  The  Pope  to  use  his  influence  with 
Western  princes  to  induce  them  to  help  the  Greek 

emperor. 

With  these   arrangements  the  Greeks  at  last  de- 
parted, and  after  many  trials  by  sea  and  land  reached 
the  Golden  Horn.    Their  reception  was  a  dishearten- 
ing one  indeed ;  so  far  from  being  welcomed  as  the 
promoters  of  union  in  the  church  of  God,  they  heard 
on  all  sides  the  cry  of  "Traitor!  renegade!  apostate!" 
The  churches  and  the  clergy  which  favored  the  union 
were   boycotted   by   the   populace,   and   a   rebellion 
against  the  emperor  broke  out.     The  whole  scheme 
o?  union  vanished  into  thin  air,  and  before  twenty 
years  were  over  Constantinople  was  a  Turkish  city, 
the  Greeks  preferring  to  be  slaves  of  the  Moslem 
rather  than  subscribe  to  what  they  considered  the 
heresies  of  the  Latin  Church.     While  we  smile  at 
their  obstinate  magnifying  of  trifles,  we  must  greatly 
admire  their  constancy  and  courage ;  they  truly  sac- 
rificed themselves  for  their  religious  belief. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  say  more  of  the  Council 
of  Florence,  for  this  was  its  principal  work.  It  was 
never  of  any  authority  outside  the  Roman  commu- 
nion ;  its  members  were  nearly  all  Italians  apart  from 
the  Greek  contingent,  and  the  powers  of  Europe  took 
no  part  in  it.  Yet  it  subserved  two  purposes:  It  in- 
troduced a  large  number  of  the  best  Greek  scholars 
into  Western  intellectual  life,  and  quickened  greatly 


288    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 


the  study  of  the  Greek  classics,  and  it  also  restored  the 
dignity  of  the  Papacy.  Through  the  obstinacy  and 
narrowness  of  Eugenius  that  power  had  been  much 
humbled ;  but  now  Europe  rejoiced  with  Eugenius 
that  he  had  been  able  to  heal  the  Greek  schism,  for 
so  it  then  appeared.  The  papal  power  was  again  on 
the  upward  path,  and  the  two  succeeding  popes, 
Nicolas  V.  and  Pius  II.,  devoted  their  great  abilities, 
with  much  success,  to  the  consolidating  and  strength- 
ening of  this  wonderful  system,  even  yet  the  most 
powerful  of  the  religious  forces  which  move  the 
Christian  world. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

THE    GERMAN    MYSTICS. 

T  may  be  well  to  begin  by  defining  what 
is  meant  by  mystics  and  mysticism.  It 
refers  to  a  craving  to  get  away  from  low 
and  unspiritual  levels,  to  break  away  from 
the  formality  and  perfunctoriness  of  the 
average  religious  life, — and  it  was  perhaps  never  much 
lower  or  more  perfunctory  than  in  the  fourteenth 
century, — a  desire  to  find  a  union  with  God  which 
should  be  as  real  as  the  common  relationships  of  daily 
life.  It  will  be  better  understood  by  mentioning  some 
historical  characters  to  whom  the  word  "  mystic " 
would  apply:  Gautama  in  India,  Confucius  in  China, 
Fenelon  in  France,  John  Bunyan  and  John  Wesley 
in  England,  the  Fratricelli,  the  Brethren  of  the  Free 
Spirit,  the  many  divisions  of  the  Spiritual  Franciscans. 
While  these  differed  much  in  views,  their  teaching  all 
partook  of  that  quietism,  that  renunciation  of  the  will, 
which  characterizes  mysticism  in  one  or  other  of  its 
forms. 

The  fourteenth  century  was  the  golden  age  of 
mysticism.  Germany  was  its  peculiar  home,  and  its 
great  promoter  was  undoubtedly  Master  Eckhart,  a 


290    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schis7n. 

Dominican.  Though  no  mean  scholastic,  he  threw 
away  all  scholastic  modes  of  expression,  and  appealed, 
not  to  the  understanding,  but  directly  to  the  hearts 
of  the  people  by  pithy  sermons  and  short  tracts,  not 
in  Latin,  but  in  the  vernacular.  His  great  idea  of 
absorption  with  God  he  carried  so  far  that  it  exposed 
him  to  the  charge  of  pantheism.  He  used  the  ex- 
pression, "  All  things  are  in  God  and  all  things  are 
God."  This  would  seem  to  connect  him  with  the 
licentious  doctrines  of  the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit, 
but  he  abhorred  them,  and  taught  only  purity  and 
an  ardent  desire  after  God.  His  expressions  were, 
however,  unguarded  enough  to  expose  him  to  the 
charge  of  heterodoxy,  and  the  very  year  he  died  Pope 
John  XXn.  condemned  him  as  having  held  twenty- 
eight  false  ideas;  but  the  Dominicans  manfully  stood 
up  for  him,  and  his  writings  influenced  greatly  the 
more  religious  of  his  time. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  trace  all  the  different 
shades  of  mysticism.  Many  of  its  teachers,  especially 
the  Beghards  and  the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit, 
were  rank  pantheists,  and  taught  that  the  supreme 
end  of  existence  was  the  absorption  of  the  individual 
into  the  infinite  substance  of  God.  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  follow  the  career  of  one  who  is  better  known 
Lhan  any  other,  whose  sermons,  dull  though  they  are, 
are  still  read,  and  who  did  not  fall  into  the  panthe- 
istic snare  which  seemed  to  entrap  so  many  of  his 
brethren. 

John  Tauler  was  born  of  wealthy  parents  in  Stras- 
burg  in  1290  or  1294,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
entered  upon  the  religious  life  in  the  Order  of  St. 


Character  of  Taiiler.  291 

Dominic.  He  studied  in  Paris,  and  on  his  return  to 
his  native  city  fell  under  the  influence  of  Eckhart ; 
he  never  was,  however,  so  great  a  quietist,  but  taught 
that  true  piety  is  the  application  of  religious  princi- 
ples to  real  life.  "  One  can  spin,"  he  said,  "  another 
can  make  shoes;  and  all  these  are  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  If  I  were  not  a  priest  I  would  esteem  it  a 
great  gift  that  I  was  able  to  make  shoes,  and  would 
try  to  make  them  so  well  as  to  be  a  pattern  to  all. 
The  measure  with  which  we  shall  be  measured  is  the 
faculty  of  love  in  the  soul ;  by  the  submission  of  the 
will  of  a  man  shall  all  his  life  and  works  be  measured." 
Vaughan  in  his  work  on  the  mystics  says :  "  The 
memorable  step  of  progress  made  by  Tauler  and  his 
companions  is  briefly  indicated  by  saying  that  they 
substituted  the  idea  of  the  immanence  of  God  in  the 
world  for  the  idea  of  the  emanation  of  the  world  from 
God ;  an  idea  familiar  to  us,  but  at  that  time  liable 
to  be  misunderstood." 

Tauler  lived  during  that  weary  strife  between 
Frederic  of  Austria  and  Louis  of  Bavaria.  His  native 
city,  Strasburg,  declared  for  Louis,  and  on  that  ac- 
count was  put  under  the  ban  by  the  Pope,  which 
involved,  of  course,  the  stopping  of  all  spiritual  min- 
istrations by  the  clergy.  Tauler,  however,  paid  no 
attention  to  the  ban,  but  spent  his  time  in  consoling 
the  sick  and  dying,  and  burying  the  dead.  He  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  his  brother  priests,  and  no  braver 
words  were  ever  spoken  in  the  height  of  the  Refor- 
mation, two  hundred  years  later.  He  said  :  "  You  are 
bound  to  visit  and  console  the  sick,  remembering  the 
bitter  pain  and  death  of  Christ,  who  hath  made  sat- 


292    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

isfaction  not  for  your  sins  only,  but  also  for  those  of 
the  whole  world ;  who  doth  represent  us  all  before 
God,  so  that  if  one  falleth  innocently  under  the  ban, 
no  Pope  can  shut  him  out  of  heaven.  You  should 
give  absolution  to  such  as  wish,  therefore  giving  heed 
rather  to  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  His  apostles  than 
to  the  ban,  which  is  issued  only  out  of  malice  and 
avarice.  "  Those  who  hold  the  true  Christian  faith  and 
sin  only  against  the  person  of  the  Pope  are  no  heretics. 
Those  rather  are  the  real  heretics  who  obstinately 
refuse  to  repent  and  forsake  their  sins ;  for  let  a  man 
have  been  what  he  may,  if  he  will  so  do  he  cannot 
be  cast  out  of  the  true  church.  Through  Christ  the 
truly  penitent  thief,  murderer,  adulterer,  all  may  have 
forgiveness.  When  Christ  beholdeth  such  under  an 
unrighteous  ban.  He  will  turn  for  them  the  curse  into 
a  blessing."  During  the  awful  ravage  of  the  Black 
Death  in  Strasburg,  Tauler  was  most  devoted  to  the 
sick  and  dying. 

A  curious  crisis  occurred  in  Tauler's  life  in  1340. 
He  was  then  a  noted  preacher,  and  with  vast  influ- 
ence far  beyond  Strasburg,  and  was  about  fifty  years 
of  age.  One  day  a  mysterious  stranger,  who  is  some- 
times called  Nicolas  of  Basel,  though  without  much 
authority  for  so  doing,  called  on  him,  and  asked  to 
confess.  Several  times  he  came  to  confession,  and 
his  conduct  and  conversation  made  a  great  impression 
on  Tauler.  He  then  asked  Tauler  to  preach  a  sermon 
on  the  way  of  reaching  the  highest  spiritual  attain- 
ment, and  after  the  sermon  said  to  the  preacher, 
"  You  preach  to  others,  but  you  do  not  know  the 


The   ''Friends  oj  God"  293 

sinfulness  of  j-our  own  heart,  for  yoi.i  have  never  yet 
surrendered  yourself  completely  to  God." 

These  words  seemed  to  go  to  Taulcr's  very  heart, 
and  to  throw  him  into  an  agony  of  sorrow  and  sus- 
pense. For  two  whole  years  he  never  once  preached, 
and  was  ever  seeking  and  praying  for  light  and  peace. 
At  last  peace  came,  and  with  the  peace  a  greater 
power  of  preaching  than  ever  before ;  for  so  lit  up 
with  spiritual  glow  were  his  sermons  that  the  men  of 
his  time  called  him  the  "  Doctor  Illuminatus." 

This  mysterious  stranger  figures  largely  in  Tauler's 
life,  and  in  the  religious  life  of  that  period.  His 
mission  seemed  to  be  the  founding,  secretly  and 
quietly,  of  a  society  called  the  "  Friends  of  God,"  of 
whom  Tauler  became  one  of  the  chief.  It  was  not 
very  numerous,  for  the  members  could  only  be  those 
who  willed  what  God  willed,  and  disliked  what  He 
disliked  ;  but  they  were  to  be  found  scattered  all  over 
Europe,  from  Holland  to  Italy.  The  renunciation  of 
the  will  was  their  great  doctrine.  This,  they  taught, 
brought  about  freedom  from  all  passions  and  desires, 
even  that  of  salvation,  and  so  it  was  possible  to 
arrive  at  absolute  sinlessness,  and  at  death  go  di- 
rect to  heaven  without  passing  through  purgatory. 
The  Friends  of  God  never  broke  with  the  church, 
and  their  unchanging  loyalty  to  Rome  enabled  them 
to  escape  much  condemnation.  Gregory  XI.  had 
interviews  at  Avignon  with  the  mysterious  founder 
of  the  sect,  and  saw  nothing  objectionable  in  his  al- 
legorical warnings,  and  even  threatenings,  of  him  if 
he  did  not  reform  the  church.     The  popes  of  those 


294    ^-^^  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

days  heard  a  great  deal  of  plain  speaking,  and  the 
Gregory  in  question  was  much  badgered  by  St. 
Catherine  of  Siena. 

The  Friends  of  God  held  the,  at  that  time,  unusu- 
ally tolerant  view  that  many  Jews  and  Moslems  were 
saved ;  for  God,  they  said,  abandons  none  who  seek 
Him,  and,  though  such  could  not  enjoy  Christian 
baptism,  yet  they  held  that  God  Himself  baptized 
them  spiritually  in  their  death-agony.  In  the  same 
spirit,  they  refused  to  denounce  a  heretic  to  human 
justice,  for  fear  of  anticipating  divine  justice.  They 
felt  that  they  could  tolerate  him  in  the  world  as  long 
as  God  saw  fit  to  do  so. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  mystic  theology  was 
well  known  to  Luther,  and  greatly  influenced  him, 
so  far  as  it  urged  men  to  forbear  trusting  in  outward 
observances,  and  to  seek  spiritual  and  inward  life ;  but 
the  Lutheran  doctrine  lays  far  more  stress  on  sacra- 
ments than  the  mystics  ever  did,  for,  with  their  views, 
all  external  usages  and  ceremonies  were  of  little  im- 
portance compared  with  the  inner  union  of  the  soul 
with  God. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

THE   INQUISITION    IN   THE   FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

HE  Inquisition  was  an  institution  which 
was  gradually  formed,  and  grew  out  of 
the  impossibility  of  stopping  heresy  by 
eloquent  sermons,  or  by  examples  of  the 
most  devoted  piety  and  unselfishness. 
These  the  Western  Church  employed  lavishly,  but 
heresy  still  grew;  and,  as  the  doctrine  of  the  age 
was  that  of  all  crimes  heresy  was  the  worst,  and  as 
every  Christian  endangered  his  own  soul's  salvation 
by  not  doing  all  he  could  to  root  it  out,  there  only 
remained  the  use  of  organized  and  forcible  means.  It 
was  to  perfect  such  organization,  and  bring  to  bear 
most  effectively  such  force,  that  the  Inquisition 
began. 

Vhe  friars  of  the  mendicant  orders  were  naturally 
the  most  available  inquisitors  and  the  most  interested, 
and  of  those  orders  the  Dominicans  proved  the  most 
serviceable  and  undertook  the  most  of  the  work.  It 
never  was  a  showy  organization ;  the  dress  of  its 
officials  was  plain  and  simple,  and  it  avoided  in  every 
way  attracting  public  attention.     The  chief  town  of 

295 


296    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schis^n. 

each  province  was  the  chief  seat  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  there  also  were  its  prisons ;  but  the  inquisitor 
was  bound  to  make  a  personal  examination  of  a  case 
of  heresy  on  the  spot  where  it  was  reported. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  Inquisition  never 
pardoned,  that  it  was  certain  death  even  to  be  ac- 
cused by  it.  It  very  often  pardoned.  The  men  con- 
ducting it  were  not  monsters  who  loved  to  kill ;  they 
were  ordinary  Christians,  with  the  same  feelings  of 
pity  and  tenderness  that  other  men  have  ;  they  often 
were  of  eminent  spirituality,  devout  and  spotless  in 
character;  but  they  were  imbued  with  the  firm  con- 
viction that  heresy  sent  a  soul  to  hell,  and  that  it 
was  infinitely  more  merciful  to  torture  the  body  if  by 
that  means  the  soul  could  be  saved  from  eternal  tor- 
ture. Doubtless  they  often  found  their  duty  very 
hard  to  do,  and  prayed  that  the  cup  might  be  taken 
from  them.  We  sometimes  forget  this,  and  judge 
harshly  men  who  were  only  the  creatures  of  their  age. 
It  was  the  horrible  system,  the  utterly  perverted  doc- 
trine, that  worked  such  terrible  havoc. 

One  of  the  worst  abuses  of  the  Inquisition  was  the 
encouragement  it  gave  to  slander  and  calumny.  No 
one  knew  what  tales  an  enemy  might  be  carrying  to 
an  inquisitor,  and  often  a  man's  arrest  was  the  first  in- 
timation he  had  that  he  was  even  suspected.  Then, 
it  made  every  one  suspicious  of  his  neighbor.  Men 
hesitated  to  speak  freely  of  the  commonest  topics — 
and  at  that  time  religion  was  the  most  common — for 
fear  lest  it  might  give  color  to  some  accusation  of 
heresy,  and  be  worked  up  into  a  case  against  them. 
A  constant  mass  of  papers  was  accumulating  in  the 


Influence  on  Courts  of  the  Inquisition.   297 

archives  of  the  Inquisition,  and  when  least  expected 
some  damaging  item  against  some  one  would  be 
brought  out.  Thus,  in  1306  (Lea),  the  Inquisition 
took  umbrage  at  the  royal  governor  of  Albi,  and 
brought  out  letters  showing  that  the  governor's 
grandfather  had  been  a  heretic,  and  therefore,  accord- 
ing to  law,  the  grandson  could  not  hold  office. 

Although  the  Inquisition  avoided  publicity,  there 
was  one  event  connected  with  it  which  was  made  as 
public  and  splendid  as  possible,  and  that  was  the  auto 
da  Ic,  or  "  act  of  faith,"  as  the  ceremony  was  called 
which  settled  the  fate  of  the  accused.  At  one  held 
in  Toulouse,  April,  13 10,  twenty  were  condemned  to 
wear  crosses  and  go  on  pilgrimages,  sixty-five  were 
imprisoned,  and  eighteen  were  burned  then  and  there 
in  the  public  square.  Two  years  after,  in  the  same 
place,  fifty-one  were  sentenced  to  wear  crosses, 
eighty-one  to  imprisonment,  the  bones  of  thirty-six 
were  ordered  to  be  dug  up  and  burned  (this  certainly 
harmed  nobody),  five  were  burned,  and  five  more 
would  have  been  if  they  could  have  been  caught. 

The  methods  of  the  Inquisition,  its  questionings, 
its  tortures,  are  too  well  known  to  render  it  necessary 
to  describe  them  here.  Its  influence  on  the  civil  courts 
was  most  deplorable ;  for  they,  owing  to  the  great 
preponderance  of  the  church,  adopted  its  tortures  and 
its  perfectly  unjust  manner  of  dealing  with  criminals. 
Lea,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Inquisition,"  well  says: 
"  It  would  be  impossible  to  compute  the  amount  of 
misery  and  wrong,  inflicted  on  the  defenceless  up  to 
the  present  century,  which  may  be  directly  traced  to 
the  arbitrary  and  unrestricted  methods  introduced  by 


298    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

the  Inquisition,  and  adopted  by  the  jurists  who  fash- 
ioned the  criminal  jurisprudence  of  the  Continent- 
It  was  a  system  which  might  well  seem  the  invention 
of  demons,  and  was  fitly  characterized  by  Sir  John 
Fortescue  as  *  the  road  to  hell.'  " 

The  Inquisition  in  France  during  the  fourteenth 
century  sank  into  great  decadence.  The  royal  au- 
thority overruled  it  in  so  many  instances  that  grad- 
ually its  officials  and  its  methods  fell  into  contempt. 
Thus  in  Carcassonne,  a  very  paradise  for  Dominican 
inquisitors,  they  were  unable,  in  13 14,  to  put  down 
a  simple  blacksmith  who  carried  on  his  noisy  trade 
too  near  their  convent ;  the  royal  authority  had  to  be 
called  in.  The  University  of  Paris  took  up  the  busi- 
ness of  heresy-hunting  and  thus  superseded  the  In- 
quisition ;  and  while  it  still  existed,  its  teeth  were 
drawn  and  its  claws  pared.  The  fiercest  inquisitorial 
hatred  in  France  was  lavished  on  the  Waldenses. 
These  were  sectaries  resembling  in  many  respects  the 
Lollards.  They  held  their  distinguishing  tenet  that 
the  sinfulness  of  the  minister  invalidated  the  sacra- 
ment. They  professed  to  hold  to  episcopal  ordina- 
tion and  to  transubstantiation,  but  any  good  man, 
priest  or  lay,  could  consecrate.  They  did  not  believe 
in  purgatory,  nor  in  the  invocation  of  saints,  and 
theoretically  they  were  non-resistant,  though  they 
often  fought  desperately.  The  names  of  Waldenses 
often  appear  in  the  lists  of  burnings  in  the  fourteenth 
century ;  but  gradually  we  lose  trace  of  them,  and  in 
the  troubles  of  the  schism  and  of  the  kingdom  of 
France  there  was  too  much  other  important  business 
going  to  allow  much  attention  to  be  given  to  them. 


Inqiiisitio7i  i)i  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany.    299 

In  Spain  the  Inquisition  was  fully  established  about 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  it  worked 
on  languidly  through  the  fourteenth ;  but  it  was  not 
until  the  fifteenth  century,  and  under  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  that  it  became  the  cruel,  blood-sucking 
octopus  so  well  known  in  history. 

The  Inquisition  in  Italy  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
like  that  in  France,  showed  great  signs  of  weakness 
and  decay.  There  were  arrests  and  burnings  of 
Waldenses  in  Piedmont  and  Savoy,  and  the  few 
Cathari  who  remained  were  hunted  down ;  but  there 
was  great  indifference  about  the  Holy  Office,  and 
when  heretics  were  to  be  attacked,  even  popes,  as 
Martin  V.  (141  7),  disregarded  the  regular  officials  of 
the  Inquisition,  and  appointed  specials  to  manage  the 
campaign. 

Germany  long  resisted  the  Inquisition,  but  it  was 
brought  in  at  last  by  Urban  V.,  in  1367,  who  ap- 
pointed two  inquisitors,  and  they  went  to  work 
with  considerable  success  at  crushing  the  Beghards. 
Charles  IV.  was  a  great  friend  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  under  him  it  raised  its  serpent  head  proudly  in 
the  land,  and  large  numbers  of  burnings  and  tortur- 
ings  took  place.  There  were  plenty  of  heretics  to 
work  upon,  but  after  the  death  of  Charles  IV.  it  lost 
its  power,  and  gradually,  as  in  almost  all  other  Eu- 
ropean lands,  it  grew  more  and  more  out  of  date.  It 
cuts  a  small  figure  in  the  Reformation  under  Luther. 

Sorcery  grew  to  vast  proportions  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  the  Inquisition  devoted  itself  to  putting 
it  down ;  but  it  had  to  struggle  against  great  odds, 
for  the  very  edicts,  such  as  John  XXII.,  a  firm  be- 


300    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

liever  in  magic,  put  out,  forbidding  Christians  to  enter 
into  a  compact  with  hell,  or  to  imprison  devils  in  rings 
or  mirrors,  made  people  believe  that  such  things  really 
could  take  place,  and  increased  the  number  of  dupes. 
All  over  Europe,  in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  even 
sixteenth  centuries,  sorcery  and  witchcraft  played  a 
prominent  part,  and  the  efforts  of  the  Inquisition  to 
put  down  these  superstitions  were  well  meant,  and, 
while  drastic,  were  often  efficient. 

Lea,  at  the  close  of  the  third  volume  on  the  "  His- 
tory of  the  Inquisition,"  summarizes  its  career  in  the 
middle  ages :  "  It  infected  and  distorted  secular  jus- 
tice, and  gave  the  popes  a  terrible  weapon  to  use  in 
political  aggrandizement.  It  stimulated  the  morbid 
sensitiveness  to  doctrinal  aberrations,  until  the  most 
trifling  dissidence  roused  men  to  fury.  In  its  long 
career  of  blood  and  fire,  the  only  credit  it  can  claim 
is  the  suppression  of  the  pernicious  dogmas  of  the 
Cathari  and  the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,  and  these 
dogmas  carried  in  themselves  the  seeds  of  self-de- 
struction. The  judgment  of  impartial  history  must 
be  that  the  Inquisition  was  the  monstrous  offspring 
of  mistaken  zeal,  utilized  by  selfish  greed  and  lust  of 
power  to  smother  the  higher  aspirations  of  humanity 
and  stimulate  its  baser  appetites." 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


LITERATURE   AND   ARTS   IN   THE    FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

T  is  true  that  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
the  fourteenth  century  was  a  troubled 
and  a  shameful  time  ;  that  has  been  shown 
in  the  preceding  pages ;  but  in  spite  of  all 
the  abuses,  the  frightful  immorality,  the 
destroying  pestilence,  there  has  not  often  been  since 
the  time  of  Christ  a  period  of  greater  advance  in  many 
important  points.  The  fourteenth  century  was  marked 
by  wonderful  activity  in  architecture,  in  commerce, 
in  the  arts,  in  the  study  of  the  classics,  in  the  soften- 
ing of  the  harsh  features  of  feudalism,  in  the  rise  of 
the  class  of  great  lawyers  who  took  a  bold  stand  in 
the  contest  between  church  and  state,  and  in  the 
founding  of  great  universities  and  the  spread  of  their 
influence  far  wider  than  ever  before  or  since. 

But  it  was  in  the  development  of  national  literature, 
and  in  the  perfecting  of  the  vernacular  in  place  of  the 
stately  Latin,  which  had  so  long  been  the  only  vehicle 
for  expressing  thought,  that  this  century  was  partic- 
ularly distinguished. 

The   Italian   language   was  the  one  most  quickly 
301 


302    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

and  perfectly  developed,  and  it  owes  this  distinction 
to  one  man,  who  still  stands  in  the  very  front  rank  of 
the  world's  great  intellects,  Dante  Alighieri  (1265- 
1321).  He  wrote  his  immortal  poem,  the  "Divine 
Comedy,"  in  Italian,  and  not  in  Latin,  adopting  that 
course  after  the  most  serious  reflection ;  not  that  he 
was  not  perfect  master  of  Latin,  but  from  motives  of 
the  loftiest  patriotism.  This  poem  is  a  whole  epitome 
of  the  middle  ages,  and  no  one  can  understand  them 
who  does  not  familiarize  himself  with  its  lofty  strains. 
Then,  after  Dante  came  Petrarch,  who  brought  out 
more  completely  the  softer  and  tenderer  parts  of  the 
language  in  his  love-sonnets,  and  also  in  his  pathetic 
canzone  over  the  unhappy  lot  of  Rome.  Then  came 
Boccaccio  (13 13-1375),  who  brilliantly  illustrated  the 
wit  and  humor  of  his  native  language.  He  was  coarse, 
even  obscene,  but  his  clear  and  finished  prose  still 
marks  him  as  one  of  the  classics  of  his  tongue. 

These  three  men  thoroughly  transformed  the  Italian 
language,  and  left  it,  even  at  that  early  date,  so  per- 
fect that  even  now  their  works  need  no  polishing  to 
fit  them  for  the  use  of  the  scholars  of  to-day,  which 
cannot  be  said  of  the  writings  of  any  one  in  England, 
France,  or  Germany.  These  men  also  did  much  to 
arouse  that  interest  in  the  treasures  of  ancient  litera- 
ture, the  Greek  and  Roman  classics,  which  blossomed 
and  bore  full  fruitage  in  the  Renaissance. 

The  great  natural  ability  of  the  Italian  people  is 
shown  by  the  contrast  between  the  condition  of  Italy 
and  that  of  other  European  countries  during  this 
century.  It  is  true  that  the  States  of  the  Church  were 
in  wretched  condition,  and  the  city  of  Rome  in  ruins ; 


Develop7nent  of  National  Literature.  303 

but  that  was  not  the  case  in  other  parts  of  Italy. 
Amalfi,  Pisa,  Venice,  Genoa,  were  all  the  seats  of  a 
splendid  commerce.  Milan  had  two  hundred  thou- 
sand people,  and  possessed  great  manufactories  of 
armor,  saddlery,  and  "  Milanery  "  (from  whence  our 
word  "  millinery  ")  of  all  sorts.  Lombardy  was  a  vast 
garden  from  the  eflfects  of  the  irrigating  canals,  and 
the  Lombard  and  Florentine  bankers  were  woven  in 
with  the  commerce  of  all  Europe. 

Let  us  not  forget  that,  amid  all  the  wars  and 
squabbles  of  Pope  and  Kaiser,  it  was  in  the  fourteenth 
century  that  Gian  Galeazzo  built  the  wondrous  cathe- 
dral of  Milan,  which  still  stands,  like  some  dream  in 
marble,  and  that  painting  then  burst  its  swaddling- 
clothes  under  Masaccio,  Cimabue,  and  Giotto.  The 
morals  were  low,  but  the  civilization  was  high — a 
lesson  to  us  that  this  moden  idea  about  the  refining 
and  elevating  influence  of  splendor  and  wealth  is  not 
at  all  a  sure  sign  of  corresponding  wealth  of  virtue  and 
prudence,  of  high  morality  and  patriotic  self-renun- 
ciation. 

The  French  language  made  great  progress  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  though  not  as  rapid  nor  as  far- 
reaching  as  the  Italian.  Its  most  conspicuous  example 
is  Froissart,  the  chronicler  (i  326-1400).  He  writes  in 
a  clear,  pointed,  spicy,  delightful  way,  which  makes 
him  even  yet  a  favorite  with  every  lover  of  stories  of 
adventure.  He  was  a  born  traveller  and  gossip,  and 
spent  his  whole  life  wandering  from  castle  to  castle, 
from  tournament  to  tournament,  from  siege  to  siege, 
listening  and  noting,  weaving  it  all,  much  as  any 
skilled  modern  reporter  would   do,  into  a  series  of 


304    The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

papers  which  would  have  commanded  instant  atten- 
tion if  the  press  had  existed  at  that  time.  It  is 
germane  to  this  book  to  quote  his  remarks  on  the 
church  troubles  of  his  time.  "This  I  well  know,"  he 
says,  "  that  some  day  people  will  be  astonished  that 
the  church  should  have  become  involved  in  such  dif- 
ficulties, and  so  long  have  been  unable  to  free  herself 
from  them.  It  was  a  plague  sent  by  God  to  warn 
the  clergy,  and  make  them  consider  what  a  great 
estate  and  superfluity  they  held  and  managed ;  but 
many  did  not  take  that  into  consideration,  for  they 
were  so  blinded  by  overweening  pride  that  each  one 
wanted  to  be  like  every  one  else,  and  because  of  that 
things  went  badly.  If  our  faith  had  not  been  con- 
firmed by  the  hand  and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
it  would  have  wavered  and  given  way ;  for  the  great 
nobles  did  nothing  but  laugh  and  play  at  the  time  I 
write,  providing  neither  a  remedy  nor  a  plan." 

Vernacular  French  was  also  greatly  assisted  in  its 
development  by  the  dialogues  from  the  Bible  called 
"  mysteries,"  spoken  in  rude  booths,  with  rough  stage 
accessories.  All  the  parables  and  miracles  were  thus 
brought  home  in  the  most  realistic  way  to  the  be- 
holders. The  foolish  virgins  wake  up  on  the  stage 
and  cry,  "Unhappy  wretches!  we  have  slept  too 
long."  Charles  VI.,  in  1402,  licensed  a  company 
which  every  Sunday  presented  in  the  vernacular  the 
leading  events  in  our  Lord's  life. 

Ensfland  was  one  of  the  last  countries  to  form  an 
idiom,  a  fact  which  is  easily  understood  when  one 
thinks  of  the  many  different  races  which  had  con- 
quered and  overrun  her,  each  with  its  own  language, 


Growth  of  English  arid  Spanish.     305 

thus  checking  the  growth  of  a  common  tongue.  In 
the  fourteenth  century,  the  Normans  and  the  Saxons 
getting  closer  together,  the  two  languages,  French 
and  English,  blended  and  made  a  mixed  language, 
in  which  Saxon  had  the  preeminence  and  gave  the 
dominant  tone.  A  writer  of  the  time  says  that,  after 
the  Black  Death  (1385,  Richard  II.),  in  all  the  gram- 
mar schools  of  England  children  began  to  leave  off 
French,  and  construe  and  study  in  English.  Edward 
III.,  in  1362,  decreed  that  all  the  law  pleadings  should 
be  in  English.  It  was  Chaucer,  however,  who  fixed 
the  floating  elements  of  the  English  tongue,  and  gave 
us  the  first  work  we  can  really  call  English.  Then 
came  Wyclif's  nervous  and  vivid  translation  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  tiiat  charming  and  piquant  book  of 
travels  of  Sir  John  Mandeville. 

The  German  language  was  already  in  form.  The 
brilliant  poets  under  the  Hohenstaufen  dynasty  had 
given  it  much  distinction  and  power,  and  during  this 
century  Tauler  and  other  preachers  made  a  most 
skilful  use  of  it.  The  collection  of  law^s  published  at 
that  time  shows  also  the  great  progress  German  had 
made  towards  its  present  copious,  and  even  over-rich, 
vocabulary. 

Already,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  code  of 
Alfonso  the  Wise  shows  the  stateliness  of  the  Spanish 
idiom,  and  from  that  time  that  language  slowly  dis- 
placed the  Latin  and  the  Arabic  in  the  courts  of  the 
petty  Spanish  princes,  and  in  the  fourteenth  century 
we  have  "  El  Conde  Lucanor  "  and  the  "  Chronicle 
of  Ayala."  The  "  Romanccro  of  the  Cid  "  is  too  varied 
and  by  too  many  different  authors  to  be  easily  classified. 


3o6   The  Age  of  the  Great  Western  Schism. 

Many  universities  were  founded  in  the  fourteenth 
century:  Heidelberg,  1386;  Cologne,  1389;  Prague, 
1348;  Vienna,  1386;  Erfurt,  1392,  In  England  the 
great  schools  of  Winchester  and  Eton  were  founded, 
the  first  in  1387,  the  latter  in  1440.  The  University 
of  Paris  had  been  founded  in  1200,  but  it  was  during 
this  century  that  it  attained  the  height  of  its  power 
and  exercised  so  astonishing  an  influence  in  the  cur- 
rent controversies.  It  is  probably  a  great  exaggera- 
tion, that  which  attributes  to  it  twenty  thousand 
pupils,  but  no  less  than  seven  popes  and  a  vast  num- 
ber of  cardinals  called  it  their  alma  mater. 


INDEX. 


Agincourt,  149,  175. 
Agrifolio,  Cardinal,  89,  91. 
Albi,  Arclibishop  of,  23. 
All)ienza,  Bishop  of,  271. 
Albornoz,  Cardinal,  56,  69;  death, 

74- 

Alexander  V.,  134,  136;  favors 
mendicants,  136  sq.  ;  journey 
towards  Rome,  140;  death,  141. 

Alexandria,  Patriarch  of,  131. 

Alfonso  the  Wise,  305. 

Amadeus  VIII.,  276;  crowned 
Pope,  277. 

Anagni,  7. 

Annates,  38,  197,  272. 

Antioch,  Patriarch  of,  131,  188. 

Anti])npe.  See  under  titles  of 
popes. 

Antonino,  St.,  of  Florence,quoted, 
22,  120. 

Antonio  Petri,  opinion  regarding 
Ladislas,   153. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  defends  friars, 
138. 

Aragon,  King  of,  supports  Bene- 
dict, 133;  letter  to  Sigismund, 
167;  meets  Sigismund,  195. 

Aretino,  quoted,  143,  150. 

Arts  in  fourteenth  century,  301 
sq. 

Arundel,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 221,  222. 

Aubert,  Stephen.  See  Innocent 
VI. 

Aussitz,  248. 

Auto  da/e,  297. 


Avignon,  25  sq.  ;  character  of  Pa- 
pacy, 70. 

Ayineric,  Cardinal,  50. 

Baader,  quoted,  46. 

"Babylonish  captivity,"  13;  a 
misnomer,  71 ;  its  end,  80. 

Ball,  John,  217,  218. 

Baphomet,   19. 

Bari,  Archbishop  of.  See  Urban 
VI. 

Basel,  Council  of,  2,  242,  248-250, 
254  sq.  ;  mistakes,  267-269,  278; 
immaculate  conception,  259; 
relations  to  Eugenius,  256,  262, 
264  sq.  ;  celibacy,  268  ;  reforms, 
269 ;  reunion  with  Greek 
Church,  270,  271  ;  confusion, 
270,271,  274;  Ferrara,  272  ;  new 
charges  against  Eusebius,  272 
sq.  ;  Pope  deposed,  275 ;  elec- 
tion of  successor,  275-277; 
feast  of  the  Visitation,  278; 
conclusion,  278,  279. 

Beaufort,  Henry,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, 204,  241,  249. 

Begging  friars,  devotion  during 
Black  Death,  62 ;  defended  by 
Clement  VI.,  67;  under  Alex- 
ander v.,  136  sq.  ;  powers  lim- 
ited    under     Boniface     VIII., 

138- 
Beghards,  290,  299. 
Benedict  XI.,  policy,  9,  10;  death, 

10. 
Benedict  XII.,  26;  chosen  Pope, 

40 ;  character,  41 ;  death,  43. 


307 


3o8 


Index. 


Benedict  XIII.,  26,  no,  in; 
urged  to  resign,  112  ;  difference 
with  University  of  Paris,  112, 
113;  opposed  by  France,  113; 
besieged  at  Avignon,  113;  es- 
capes, 114;  reacknowledged, 
114;  embassy  to  Rome,  115; 
sets  out  to  meet  Gregory  XII., 
120,  121 ;  opinion  of  St.  An- 
tonino,  120;  tlireats  against 
France,  121 ;  defiance  of  France, 
121;  escape  to  Aragon,  122; 
summons  council,  125  ;  charac- 
ter, 126;  summoned  to  Pisa, 
130,131  ;  condemnation,  131;  ex- 
communicated by  John  XXIII., 
144;  summoned  to  Constance, 
152;  proposed  abdication,  174; 
meets  Sigismund,  195 ;  again 
summoned  to  Constance,  199; 
final  condemnation,  199;  death, 

239- 

Bessarion,  282,  285. 

Bible.     See  Wyclif. 

Black  Death,  2,  59  sq. 

Boccaccio,  reference  to  Black 
Death,  61;  "  Decamerone," 
210;  a  classic,  302. 

Bohemia.     See  Hussites. 

Bologna,  University  of,  approves 
Council  of  Pisa,  124. 

Bonaventura,  defends  friars,  138. 

Boniface  VIII.,  character,  2,  3; 
"  Unam  Sanctam,"  3;  excom- 
municates Philip,  4;  juljilee,  5  ; 
at  Anagni,  7 ;  death,  8  ;  Dante's 
estimate,  8  ;  Council  of  Vienne, 
20,  21  ;  limits  powers  of  friars, 
138. 

Boniface  IX.,  105  sq.  ;  relations 
to  England,  107;  jubilees,  108, 
109  ;  efforts  to  heal  schism,  109, 
no;  receives  embassy  from 
Benedict  XIII.,  115  ;  death  and 
character,  115,  116. 

Boucicault,  Marshal,  113,  122. 

Bourges,  Synod  of,  273. 

Braccio,  234,  235,  239. 

Bradwardine,  215. 


Brethren  of  the  Common  Life, 
213,  229. 

Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,  290, 
300. 

Bridget,  St.,  of  Sweden,  75. 

Burgundy,  Duke  of,  282. 

Butilio,  100,  loi,  102. 

Calixtines,  244,  260.  See  Huss- 
ites. 

Capranica,  261. 

Cardinals.     See  Curia. 

Carpentras,  30. 

Casimir,  65. 

Cathari,  299,  300. 

Catherine,  St.,  of  Siena,  75  sq., 
80,  81;  letter  to  Urban  VI., 
93  ;  relations  to  Joanna  of  Na- 
ples, 100. 

Celestine,  Dante's  estimate,  2. 

Celibacy,  268. 

Cesarini,  Cardinal,  242,  250,  255, 
262,  263,  269,  271 ;  letter  to 
Eugenius,  256;  leaves  Basel, 
273;   at  Ferrara,  282,284. 

Cesena,  Tractate  against  the  errors 
of  the  Pope,  34. 

Challant,  Cardinal,  150. 

Charles  IV.,  55,  71,  299. 

Charles  VI.,  no,  114,  121,  240; 
licenses  company  of  "mystery" 
players,  304. 

Charles  VII.,  240. 

Charles  of  Bohemia,  47. 

Charles  of  Durazzo,  100;  attacks 
Urban  VI.,  loi. 

Charles  of  Valois,  27. 

Charlier,  John.   See  Gerson,  John. 

Chaucer,  209,  220,  305. 

Chichele,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 240,  241. 

Cimabue,  303. 

Clemanges,  quoted,  208,  210. 

Clement  V.,  1 1  ;  terms  with  Philip, 
12-14;  coronation,  13;  Coun- 
cil of  Vienne,  20,  21  ;  attitude 
towards  Templars,  23,  24;  at 
Avignon,  25,  26;  death  and 
character,  27,  28;  not  enemy  of 
Italy,  70. 


Index. 


309 


Clement  VI.,  25,  26;  character, 
44,  45  ;  negotiations  with  Louis 
of  Bav;iri:i,  45-47;  shortens  ju- 
bilee, 48  ;  kinchiess  to  Jews,  61, 
65  ;  poHcy  towards  Flagellants, 
64  ;  defends  begging  friars,  67  ; 
death,  67. 

Clement  VII.,  26,  96  sq.  ;  excom- 
munications, 99;  flight,  99; 
supports  Joanna  of  Naples,  100  ; 
policy  in  France,  104;  death, 
no. 

Clement  VIII.,  26. 

Cobham,,Lord,  222. 

Cologne,  Archbishop  of,  148. 

Cologne,  University  of,  306. 

Colonna,  Antonio,  254. 

Colonna,  Egidio,  32. 

Colonna,  Oddcj.     See  Martin  V. 

Colonna,  Sciarra,  7. 

Colonna,  Stephen,  52,  253. 

Colonn.is,  253- 

Comminges,  Cardinal  de,  40. 

Condolmieri,  Gabriel.  See  Eu- 
genius  IV. 

Constance,  Bishop  of,  257. 

Constance,  Council  of,  2,  129,151, 
154  sq.  ;  diflerence  with  cardi- 
nals, 182,  200  sq.  ;  results,  205, 
230 ;  papal  election,  206 ;  over- 
tures from  Greeks,  228 ;  con- 
tradiction between  decrees  and 
those  of  Vatican  Council,  231, 
233  ;  power  admitted  by  Martin 
v.,  232  ;  end,  233  ;  disregard  of 
Hussite  claims,  244.  .See  Mar- 
tin v.,  Huss,  John  XXIII., 
Sigismund,  Gregory  XII., 
Benedict  XIII.,  Papacy.D'Ailly, 
Hallam,  Gerson,  Paris,  Univer- 
sity of.  Annates,   Petit,  John. 

Cossa,  Cardinal,  133,  134,  136, 
140,  141  ;  elected  Pope,  1 42. 
See  John  XXIII. 

Coverdale,  influence  of  Wyclif,  223. 

Creighton,  quoted,  47,  133,  192, 
286. 

Curia,  8,  86,  182,  251,  252.  Sec 
Constance,  Council  of,  etc. 


D'Acemo,  Thomas,  views  on  Ur- 
ban VI.,  94. 

IVAchery,  cjuoted,  128. 

D'Ailly,  Peter.   See  Peter  d'Ailly. 

D'Allemand,  Louis,  Cardinal  of 
Aries,  271,  273,  274,  275,  276, 
277. 

Dante,  quoted,  2,  8,  27 ;  letter  to 
cardinals,  30;  champion  of  in- 
dependence of  church  and  state, 
32  ;  debt  to,  302. 

De  Comminges,  Cardinal,  40. 

De  Deux.  Cardinal,  54. 

*'  Defensor  Pacis,"  34  sq. 

De  Grimoard,  William.  See  Ur- 
ban V. 

De  Molay,  James,  15,  17,  19; 
death,  23. 

De  Nogaret,  William,  7,  9,  10. 

Dietrich  of  Niem,  memoir,  102, 
105,  115,  118,  120,  140. 

Di  Luna,  Cardinal,  88. 

"Doctor  Illuminatus,"  293. 

Dominicans,  chief  inquisitors,  295. 

Eckhart,  289 ;  condemned  by 
John  .-XII.,  290. 

"Eight  Verities,"  198. 

England,  relations  to  Martin  V., 
227,  240,  241. 

Erasmus,  "  Moria,"  quoted,  209. 

Erfurt,  University  of,  306. 

Eton,  school,  306. 

Eugcnius  IV.,  252;  character, 
253;  actions  against  Colonnas, 
253,  254;  opposed  to  Basel, 
256,  262 ;  summoned  thither, 
261  ;  action  of  Council  of  Basel, 
265 ;  concessions,  266,  267 ; 
escape  from  Rome,  267 ;  policy 
with  Greeks,  270,  280  sq. ; 
transfers  council  to  F'crrara,272; 
new  charges  against,  272  sq. ; 
deposed  at  Basel,  275 ;  rage, 
275,  277 ;  treaty  with  Greeks, 
286. 

"Exemptions,"  211. 

Felix.     See  Amadcus  VIII. 

Ferrara,  Council  of,  272,  280  sq. ; 
transferred  to  Florence,  284. 


3IO 


Index. 


Filastre,   Cardinal,   diary  relating 

to  Council  of  Constance,    158; 

demands  at  Constance,  170,  171. 
"Filioque."     See  Greek  Church, 

Ferrara,  Florence. 
Flagellants,  2,  62-64. 
Florence,  Cardinal  of,  88,  89,  91. 
Florence,   Council  of,  transferred 

from  Ferrara,  284  ;    conclusion, 

285  sq.      See  Ferrara. 
Florence,  University  of,  approves 

Council  of  Pisa,  124. 
Fondolo,  152. 
"Four  Articles,"  246. 
Fournier,    James.     See    Benedict 

XII. 
Fourteenth  century,  i  sq.,  301  sq. 
France.     See  titles  of  kings. 
Franciscans,  32  sq.,  36;  favored 

by  Alexander  V.,  136. 
Frederic,  Count  of  Tyrol,  154. 
Frederic  of  Austria,  t^t,,  176,  I77i 

submission  to  Sigismund,  181. 
"  Free  Thought,"  sect  of,  213. 
"  Frequens,"  204. 
Friars,    begging.      See    Begging 

Friars. 
"Friends  of  God,"  293,  294. 
Froissart,  303. 
Fuller,  quoted,  218. 
Gabrini,  Nicolas.     See  Rienzi. 
Gaetani,  Francis,  10. 
Galeazzo,  Gian,  303. 
Gayet,  quoted,  70,  86 ;   Germany, 

148  sq.     See  titles  of  emperors. 
Gerson,  John,  1 21-123;    opinion 

concerning  Council  of  Pisa,  129, 

131  ;   criticism    of     Huss,    159, 

167;  sermon  at  Constance,  177. 
Ghibellines,  27. 
Gibbon,  quoted,  236. 
Giotto,  303. 

Gladstone,  quoted,  233. 
Glandeve,  Cardinal,  86. 
"Golden  bull,"  71. 
"  Good  Estate,"  51. 
Grabow,  229. 
Greek  Church, reunion  with  Rome, 

270,  271,  280  sq. ;   •'  Filioque," 


283.  See  Constance,  Ferrara, 
Florence. 

Green,  "History  of  the  English 
People,"  quoted,  219. 

Gregory  XL,  26;  relations  to 
Avignon,  71 ;  election  and  char- 
acter, 75,  82,  83;  receives  Cath- 
erine of  Siena,  78 ;  leaves  for 
Rome,  79  i  arrival,  80 ;  death, 
82  ;  fears  as  to  succession,  83  ; 
interview  with  Nicolas  of  Basel, 

293- 

Gregory  XII.,  118;  efforts  at 
unification,  118  sq.  ;  sets  out  to 
meet  Benedict,  119  sq.  ;  quar- 
rel with  cardinals,  123,  124; 
council,  125;  character,  125, 
126;  summoned  to  Pisa,  130, 
131;  condemnation,  131;  ex- 
communicated by  John  XXIII. , 
144;  under  protection  of  Mala- 
testa,  146;  summoned  to  Con- 
stance, 152;  final  career  and 
death,  194. 

Grimoard,  William  de.  See  Ur- 
ban V. 

Groot,  Gerard,  213,  229. 

Hallam,  Robert,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, 144,  158,  170;  view  of 
John  XXIII.,  175;  death,  203. 

Hecker,  treatise  on  Black  Death, 

59- 

Hefele,  quoted,  141. 

Heidelberg,  University  of,  306. 

Henry  IV.,  England,  221. 

Henry  V.,  240. 

Henry  VI.,  240. 

Henry  VIII.,  1%,  241. 

Henry  of  Hesse,  212. 

Henry  of  Luxemburg,  27. 

Holy  Ghost,  Procession  of.  See 
Greek  Church,  Ferrara,  Flor- 
ence. 

Hospitallers,  22. 

Huss,  John,  2,  157  sq.  ;  dangerous 
views,  159;  charged  with  her- 
esy, 160;  arrested,  161;  ofTers 
terms,  161 ;  relations  to  Sigis- 
mund,    166-168;    views,    186, 


Index. 


311 


187;  trial,  188;  condemnation 
and  death,  191,  192;  result, 
192. 

Hussites,  243  sq.,  255;  at  Basel, 
262 ;  afterwards,  263,  264. 

"Imitation  of  Christ,"  213. 

Immaculate  conception,  259. 

Indulgences,  208,  279. 

Innocent  VI.,  26,  56;  election, 
68;  reforms,  68,  69;  death,  71. 

Innocent  VII.,  116;  flight,  return, 
and  death,  117. 

Inquisition,  212,  213,  295  sq. 

Jahr,  on  election  of  Urban  VI., 
86. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  192,  193. 

Jerusalem,  Patriarch  of,  131. 

Jews,  sufferings  during  Plack 
Death,  61,  64,  65. 

Joanna  of  Naples,  25 ;  anathema- 
tized by  Urban  VI.,  100. 

Joasaph,  Patriarch,  280,  281  ; 
death,  285. 

Jobst  of  Moravia,  148. 

Jocas  of  Moravia,  148. 

John  XXII.,  26;  character,  31, 
38 ;  quarrels  with  Franciscans 
and  Louis  of  Bavaria,  32  sq., 
36  ;  a  "heretic,"  37  ;  death,  39 ; 
condemns  Eckhart,  290 ;  a  be- 
liever in  sorcery,  299. 

John  XXIII.,  election,  142;  char- 
acter, 142,  143 ;  excommunicates 
Gregory  and  Benedict,  and  de- 
poses Ladislas,  144  ;  helps  Louis 
of  Anjou,  144;  at  Rome,  144; 
compact  with  Ladislas,  145 ; 
council  at  Rome,  146;  oppres- 
sion, 147  ;  flight  from  Ladislas, 
147  ;  supported  by  Germany,  148 
sq,  ;  Council  of  Constance,  150 
sq.,  154  sq.,  162  sq.,  169  sq.  ; 
condemnation,  1 71,  1 72;  con- 
(iiti<mal  abdication,  1 72-174; 
flight,  176;  weakness,  178,  179: 
evasions,  180 ;  summoned  back 
to  Constance,  182 ;  deposed, 
183;  subsequent  career  and 
death,     184;    implores    protec- 


tion from  Martin  V.,  235.     See 
Cossa. 
John  of  Chlam,  161,  189. 
John  of  Falkenbcrg,  228. 
John  of  Montenegro,  282,  285. 
John  of  Nassau,  157. 
John  of  Paloman,  255. 
John  of  Paris,  32. 
John  of  Ragusa,  255,  263. 
Jubilee,   5,    6,  48;    of   1350,    66; 
shortened,    102;  of   1390,    108; 
of  1400,  109. 
Kuttenberg,  248. 
Ladislas  of  Naples,  116,  117,  119, 
123;    deposed,    144;    defeated, 
144;    rehabilitation,     144,    145; 
compact  with  John  XXI 1 1.,  145  ; 
victory    over    John,    147 ;    final 
attack  on  Rome  and  death,  152; 
character  and  aims,  153. 
Langley,  Bishop  of  Durham,  144. 
Lea,  H.  C,  quoted,  297,  300. 
Leonard  of  Arezzo.  quoted,  120. 
Lepan,  battle  of,  264. 
Literature   in   fourteenth  century, 

301  sq. 
Lodi,  Bishop  of,  206. 
Lollards,  220-222. 
London,  Bishop  of,  102. 
Louis  X.,  31. 

Louis,  Count  Palatine,  233. 
Louis,  King  of  Sicily,  114- 
Louis  of  Anjou,  100,  144;  defeats 
Ladislas,    144;   failure  and  de- 
parture, 144,  145. 
Louis  of  Aries,  269. 
Louis  of  Bavaria.  },l,  37,  41   sq., 
235  ;  negotiations  with  Clement 
VI.,  45-47;  <le:ith,  47. 
Liibeck,  Bishop  of,  268. 
Luliier,     influenced    by    mystics, 

294. 
Malatcsta,  146. 
Mandeville,  Sir  John,  305. 
NLirgaret,  Duchess  of  Tyrol,  42. 
.Mark  of  Kphesus,  282,  285. 
Marsiglio,  "  Defensor  Pacis,"  34, 

42. 
Martin  V.,    184,    206;    character, 


312 


Index. 


224,  225,  242 ;  papal  chancery, 
225 ;  relations  to  Sigismund, 
226;  policy,  227,  228;  bull 
against  Wyclif  and  Huss,  229 ; 
refuses  to  condemn  Brethren  of 
the  Common  Life,  229 ;  admits 
power  of  Council  of  Constance, 
232  ;  journey  to  Rome,  234  sq.  ; 
renovation  of  city,  238 ;  Council 
of  Pavia,  238 ;  foreign  affairs, 
240,  241;  death,  242,  250; 
Hussites,  249 ;  Council  of  Basel, 
249 ;  disregard  of  Inquisition, 
299. 

Masaccio,  303. 

Maximus,  St.,  285. 

Mayence,  Archbishop  of,  148; 
diet  at,  273. 

Megliorotto,  Cosimo.  See  Inno- 
cent VII. 

Mendicants.    See  Begging  Friars. 

Milman,  quoted,  23,  132,  133, 
224,  256. 

Molay,  James  de,  15,  17,  19; 
death,  23. 

Muratori,  quoted,  146. 

"  Mysteries,"  304. 

Mystics,  213,  289  sq. 

Naffo,  17. 

"  Necessity  of  Reforming  the 
Churches,"  208. 

Nicolas  v.,  37,  288. 

Nicolas,  Bishop  of  Ostia.  See 
Benedict  XI. 

Nicolas  of  Basel,  292. 

Nicolas  of  Cusa,  269. 

Nicolas  of  Hussinetz,  244. 

Nogaret,  William  de,  7,  9,  10. 

Nuremberg,  Burgrave  of,  183. 

Occam,  215. 

"On  the  Difficulty  of  Reform," 
208. 

"On  the  Ruin  of  the  Church," 
208. 

O'Reilly,  quoted,  232. 

"Orphans,"  248,  264. 

Orsini,  Cardinal,  89,  90,  91,  93, 
180. 

Orsini,  Matthew,  10. 


Orsini,  Napoleon,  10. 

Palasologus,  John,  280,  281 ;  dis- 
appointment with  council,  284; 
compact  with  Pope,  286 ;  return, 
287. 

Palermo,  Archbishop  of,  269,  274. 

Papacy,  not  bound  up  in  Rome, 
70 ;  general  councils  superior 
to,  131,  132,  177,  273;  view  of 
Gerson,  177;  of  University  of 
Paris,  177,  178. 

Papal  chancery,  225. 

Papencordt,  correspondence  be- 
tween Rienzi  and  Charles   IV., 

Paris,  University  of,  under  Clem-' 
ent  VII.,  104,  105,  no;  un- 
der Benedict  XIII.,  in  sq. ; 
approves  Council  of  Pisa,  124; 
opposes  "  Regnans  in  Eccle- 
sia,"  139;  opinion  in  regard  to 
Papacy,  177,  178;  Council  of 
Pavia,  238 ;  supersedes  Inquisi- 
tion, 298 ;  its  power,  306. 

Pavia,  Council  of,  230,  238. 

Perugia,  conclave,  10,  11. 

Peter,  Bishop  of  Metz,  105. 

Peter  d'Ailly,  105 ;  opinion  con- 
cerning Council  of  Pisa,  129, 
131 ;  at  Constance,  158,  162, 
163,  170,  179,  180;  sermon  at 
Constance,  165  ;  trial  of  Huss, 
188-190,  208. 

Peter  di  Luna.  See  Benedict 
XIII. 

Peter  Roger.      See  Gregory  XI. 

Petit,  John,  198,  228. 

"  Petition  for  the  Reform  of  the 
Church,"  208. 

Petrarch,  26 ;  opinion  concerning 
Benedict  XII.,  41  ;  quoted,  237 ; 
debt  to,  302. 

Petri,  Antonio,  opinion  regarding 
Ladislas,   153. 

Philargi,  Peter.  See  Alexander 
V. 

Philip  IV.,  2;  character,  3;  ex- 
communicated, 4 ;  excommuni- 
cation   removed,     9;      charges 


Index. 


zn 


against  Boniface,  9 ;  terms  with 
Clement,  12-14;  action  against 
Templars,  15  sq.,  23,  24;  Coun- 
cil of  N'ienne,  20,  21  ;  ambitions 
defeated  by  Clement,  27. 

Philip  v.,  31. 

Philip  VI.,  41. 

Pisa,  Archbishop  of,  130. 

Pisa,  Council  of,  2,  124,  127  sq. 

Pius  II.,  288.  See  Sylvius, 
Eneas. 

Pius  IX.     See  Vatican  Council. 

Poitiers,  Cardinal  of,  129. 

Poles,  228 

"Poor  Priests,"  220. 

Porto,  Bishop  of,  271. 

Posen,  Archbishop  of,  181. 

Pragmatic  sanction,  273. 

Prague,  Archbishop  of,  247. 

Prague,  University  of,  244,  306. 

Prato,  Cardinal  of,  10-12. 

Premunire,  38,  107,  240,  241. 

Prignani,  Bartholomew,  election, 
85  sq.     See  Urban  VI. 

Procopius  the  Great,  248,  249, 262. 

Provisors,  38,  107,  240,  241. 

Ragusa,  Cardinal  of,  244. 

Reform.  See  Pisa,  Constance, 
Basel,  etc..  Councils  of. 

"  Regnans  in  Ecclesia,"  138. 

Richard  II.,  intercedes  for  Bishop 
of  London,  102. 

Rienzi,  2,  26;  life  sketched,  48 
sq.  ;  deputy  to  Avignon,  48, 
50;  "Good  Estate,"  51;  trib- 
une, 51;  aims,  52;  folly,  53, 
54 ;  routs  barons,  54 ;  orders 
Pope  to  Rome,  54;  unification 
of  Italy,  54;  excommunication, 
flight,  and  wanderings,  55  ;  im- 
prisonment, 56 ;  return  to 
Rome,  57;  death,  57,  58. 

Robert,  Cardinal,  92. 

Robertson,  quoted,  133,  269,  286. 

Roger,  Peter.     See  Gregory  XI. 

Rokyczana,  263. 

Rome,  condition  of,  in  fourteenth 
century,  28,  29;  at  time  of  Mar- 
tin v.,  236. 


Rome,     council    at,    under    John 

XXIII.,  146. 
Roquemaure,  27. 
Rupert  of  Germany,  130. 
Sacred  College.     See  Curia. 
Schism,  Great  Western,  beginning, 
92  sq.  ;    end,   206 ;  effects,   207 
sq.     See  under  titles  of  popes. 
Scotus,  215. 

Seeboken,  on  Black  Death,  59. 
Sforza,  145,  235,  239. 
Shakespeare,  character  of  Beaufort 

in  "  Henry  VI.,"  241. 
Sigismund,  148  sq. ;  secures  Con- 
stance   for    council,    150,    151; 
arrival,  164;  relations  to  Huss, 
166,    189,    190;    to    John,    174 
sq.  ;  meets  Benedict,   195  ;  trav- 
els,   196 ;    at    Council    of  Con- 
stance, 201  ;   on  side  of  reform, 
202,    203 ;   relations    to   Martin 
v.,    226;    debts,    226;    Hussite 
wars,    238    sq.,    246    sq.  ;     Bo- 
hemian crown,  246 ;  relations  to 
Eugenius,    260;   to   Council    of 
Basel,  260 ;  shifty  policy,   265 ; 
at  Basel,  266;   departure,   267; 
death,  272. 
Simon  of  I'erugia,  130. 
Sorcery,   299. 
Souchon,  researches,  86. 
"  Spirituals,"  32  sq.,  36. 
"Squalors  of  the  Roman  Curia," 

208. 
Squin  of  Beziers,  17. 
St.  Angelo,  Cardinal,  86. 
St.  Eustache,  Cardinal,  86. 
St.  John,  Knights  of,  22. 
St.  Marcello,  Cardinal  of,  93. 
St.    Peter's,   Cardinal  of,   89,  90, 

95,  268. 
Sylvius,  Eneas,  quoted,  246,  256, 

258,  261,  269. 
Taboritcs,     244    sq.,    264.       See 

Hussites. 
Talleyrand-Perigord,  Cardinal,  40. 
Tarentum,  Archlsishop  of,  27 1. 
Tauler,  John,  290  sq. 
Telesphorus,  212. 


3H 


hidex. 


Templars,  2,  12,  14  sq.  ;  charges 
against,  I7sq.  ;  dissolution,  21, 
22. 

Tomacelli,  Peter.  See  Boniface 
IX. 

Tractates.  See  Cesena,  William 
of  Occam. 

Tyndale,  influence  of  Wyclif,  223. 

Ullerston,  Richard,  208. 

"  Unam  Sanctam,"  3,  4. 

Universities,  power  of,  3;  sus- 
pended by  Boniface,  4;  privi- 
leges restored,  9. 

Urban  V.,  26;  election  and  char- 
acter, 72,  73 ;  return  to  Rome, 
73,  74;  to  Avignon,  74;  death, 
75 ;  Inquisition  in  Germany, 
299. 

Urban  VI.,  election,  85  sq.  ;  coro- 
nation, 91 ;  revolt  of  cardinals, 
92  sq.,  95,  96  ;  character,  92,  93, 
103 ;  excommunications,  99 ; 
rapacity  and  simony,  100;  ac- 
tion against  Joanna,  100;  be- 
sieged by  Charles  of  Durazzo, 
101  ;  escapes  from  Nocera,  102  ; 
cruelty  and  crimes,  102 ;  short- 
ens jubilee,  102 ;  death,  102. 

Utraquists,  244  sq. 

Vatican,  Council  of,  contradiction 
between  decrees  and  those  of 
Constance,  231-233. 

Vaughan,  on  the  mystics,  291. 

Vienna,  University  of,  306. 

Vienne,  Council  of,  20,  21. 

Villani,  quoted,  39. 

Vincent  Ferrer,  St.,  195. 
Visconti  of  Milan,  115. 


"Visio  de  Petro  Plowman,"  etc.> 

221. 
Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

278. 
Viviers,  Cardinal  of,  180. 
Von  der  Hardt,  documents  relat- 
ing  to    Council    of   Constance, 
158,  163,  172,  204,  207. 
Von   Hammer,  theory  concerning 

Templars,  22. 
Von   Niem,    Dietrich,   opinion   of 

Urban  VI.,  93,  208. 
Von  Reichenthal,  Ulric,  diary  re- 
lating to  Council  of  Constance, 
158,  230. 
Waldenses,  298,  299. 
Wenceslas,  130,  148,  244,  246. 
Wenzel,  Kingof  the  Romans,  128. 
Wilcke,  theory  concerning  Tem- 
plars, 22. 
William    of   Occam,    Tractate    on 

the  decisions  of  the  Pope,  34. 
William  of  St.  Amour,  137. 
Winchester,  school,  306. 
Witchcraft,  300. 
Worcester,  Bishop  of,  220. 
Wordsworth,  quoted,  223. 
Worms,  Bishop  of,  208. 
Wyclif,   2 ;   writings  burned,  146, 
187;    relations   to    Huss,    186; 
pernicious  views,  187,  215,  217, 
218 ;  life,  215  sq.  ;  inconsistency, 

218,  219;  errors,  219;  his  value, 

219,  220;     Bible,     222,     223; 
death,  223. 

Zabarella,  Cardinal,  150,  158,  179, 

180,  188. 
Ziska,  John,  244  sq. 


^::^ 


BW894.T28V.8 

The  age  of  the  great  western  schism, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00015  5293 


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